A child shall lead them
by Summersfan
Summary: After Deconstructing Hell and If I Die Before I Wake, Faith, Angel and Xander try to face the biggest challenge of Faith's life. NOW COMPLETE
1. Breaking the sound barrier

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or situations, or concepts, or anything, really.

Summary: After the events described in _Deconstructing Hell_ Faith, Angel and Xander try to save a girl from her past while Faith tries to deal with the biggest challenge of her life.

This also follows _If I Should Die Before We Wake_... actually, chronologically we're in the middle of that story as we enter this story. But all you need to know is that Spike helped bring Xander and Faith together, and he's in some peril of his own right now. Later he re-enters this story, so it might help if you read both fics before reading this one, even if you're allergic to Spike. Also, while Angel and Xander feel about Spike the way they did in canon, he saved their lives previously, so Faith feels better about him than they do. (go figure)

Rating: Teen

Chapter One: Breaking the sound barrier

* * *

If the tiny town of Shelby was in any way aware of the presence of the fugitives that had just sped into its tiny haven, it gave no sign of it.

The hamlet was nestled against the ocean nearly five hundred miles north of LA, a town that few knew of and fewer still visited. It was practically a ghost town.

The tiny main street was littered with burned-out wrecks and abandoned stores, and with twilight coming on it looked very spooky. There was one light on, in a two-story brick building, and it was there that the tiny two-seat car pulled up.

The man that got out was short, with a three-day stubble and cowboy boots. His nose was crooked from being broken, and his straw-colored hair was chopped short. He lifted a pistol out of the seat where it had been laying between his knees and lifted his shirt to stick it under his waistband.

The girl, a blond with a backwards baseball cap and a trenchcoat, checked the shotgun she had under it before closing it. She looked up at the brick building, baffled.

"Are you sure this is the place?" she asked again.

He sighed. "The man said it would be easy to spot, didn't he?" There was a trace of a Scottish accent in his voice, one that sounded diluted by many years in America.

She peered up at the building again, scowling. When he started to walk away the scowl dissapearred, and she hurried after him.

He didn't knock on the front door, simply swung it open.

A long man in black stood at a desk, facing away from them. As they entered he swung around to face them, not showing a hint of surprise. He was tall, with dark hair that stood up off his head and broad shoulders, and boyish good looks, but there was darkness in his eyes.

The two intruders looked him up and down, apparently unimpressed by what they saw.

"Can I help you?" he asked, his gaze taking them both in but settling on the girl. His nose twitched, and he tilted his head slightly, as if trying to place a familiar face.

"A friend of yours sent us here," replied the man in the doorway, stepping forward slightly to get between the girl and this tall, dark stranger. The slight burr in his voice caught the taller man's attention immediately.

"I have lots of friends. Did this one have a name?"

"Called himself Lorne," said the girl. "Green guy. Horny." She regretted the turn of phrase immediately, and tried to cover it up by glaring at the back of her friend's head.

The tall man blinked twice. "Lorne. Still hanging around, huh? How did he know where I was...?—never mind. You have a problem?"

"He said you help the helpless," said the man, frowning at the tall figure who stared back at him. "Of course, he failed to mention how you did that, exactly."

"But you were feeling helpless, so you decided to risk coming here," replied the tall man, smiling. "I don't do as much of that as I'd like to these days—a bit busy, with the other projects—tell me about your problem."

The girl shook her head. "Wait a minute. This isn't right! We've been set up!" She swung the shotgun out of her coat quickly, leveling it at the taller man, who raised an eyebrow slowly.

"Problem?" he asked softly. His hands had tightened into fists.

"Your friend didn't say anything about you being a vampire!" she snarled.

Before she could move again he was across the room, snatching the shotgun out of her hands. She gasped in shock, backing up to the door, and her companion drew his pistol quickly.

"Don't try it!" he snapped. "Got ahead of us, huh? Picked off the good helpless helper, set a trap?"

The taller man looked at him quizzically. "You're being chased by vampires?" he asked. He backed up, carefully setting the shotgun down on a table that was stacked high with books. "Come into my office."

He turned his back on them and walked into another room. They exchanged confused glances.

"I say we get out of here, and fast!" hissed the girl.

The man was already paler than he had been a minute before, and he considered it a second. "We have to find out how he got ahead of us," he whispered, moving forward slowly.

"I wasn't behind you."

They both jumped, and moved forward into the other room.

The office space of the tiny building was crammed with bookcases loaded with old, dusty tomes. The vampire was sitting behind a desk, twirling a stake in one hand. "So you're being pursued," he said. "By who, and why?"

There was a long silence, and the man kept his pistol aimed right at the vampire. "Don't take this the wrong way, but we don't trust vampires."

"That gun wouldn't stop me," said the vampire reproachfully. "My name is Angel, by the way, and—"

"Yo! Angelus!" The sudden shout from the stairs behind the vampire caused the pistol in the man's hand to jerk upwards, to point at the source of the sound. The vampire stood up quickly, stepping between the gun and the man with the eyepatch on the stairs.

"Xander, this isn't the best time," he said quietly.

The man stared with his good eye down at their visitors. "Are they good guys or bad?" he asked. "Because I'm all set with my safety word or my panic word, whatever you think."

Angel sighed deeply. "I'm pretty sure they're good guys," he said. "We were just about to discuss it."

Xander continued to stare down at them, apparently weighing the odds. "Are they human?" he asked cautiously.

The girl drew herself up to her full height, glaring at him. "More than your friend!" she snapped.

"Ah." Xander looked at Angel, frowning. "I don't think you could call him my friend, exactly. Were we ever mortal enemies?"

"Maybe," mumbled the vampire. They might not have been mortal enemies, and might be living together right now, but they certainly weren't friends. He wasn't going to argue that point.

Xander moved forward then, managing a thin smile. "And how did they find us? I was pretty sure we were unfindable these days."

"Lorne told them how to find us. Did you sing for him?"

"I did," said the short man, glaring at the vampire. "What possible difference does that make?"

"So they must be more or less good people," said Angel.

"How does that follow? Maybe they can just carry a tune and he decided to go with that."

"Lorne has some…abilities…" said Angel slowly. "If they sang, he knows. You can put the gun down."

The man shook his head. "Maybe later."

"Uh-huh," said Xander, smiling, this time a wide, genuine smile. "See, I think the fact that he's so jumpy around a vampire proves that he's a good person."

"Ha-ha," muttered Angel, sitting back down abruptly. "My name is Angel, and this is Xander."

"I'm Amelia," said the girl, glancing at her companion. "This is Tom. We—we aren't being chased by vampires. But they've hired them before."

"Who are you being chased by?" asked Xander, moving behind the desk and opening a drawer.

"Why, yes, you can borrow my stuff," said Angel sarcastically. "Feel free."

"Demons!" snapped Tom. "A nasty pack of demons who think some prophecy refers to Amelia because she's…" He trailed off slowly, eyeing Angel.

"She's not a Slayer," said Xander slowly, looking up. "Is she?"

"No," said Angel. "I don't think so, anyway."

"Oh, now you're an expert?"

The man and the vampire resumed the angry stareoff for a minute, until Tom cleared his throat. "Sorry," said Angel, looking away. "Why are they after her?"

"I don't know!" blurted the girl. "Tom thinks it's because of…my father."

A dark-haired girl stormed down the stairs, a dark scowl on her face. "And he's not even a vampire anymore! He only gets powers from her, and who knows how reliable she is? You can't trust that! We should protect him!" She completely ignored their two guests.

"Faith, this is Amelia and Tom," said Angel. "They're on the run from demons." Xander looked away from her, his face twisting into a scowl.

"So we'll kill the demons," said Faith throatily, eyeing Amelia.

Xander also eyed Amelia, but a frown creased his forehead. "She looks kind of familiar," he said to Angel, quietly. "Do we know her?"

"I think you may know her father," said Angel.

"What?" said Xander, peering at Amelia. "How do you figure?"

"Well, I wouldn't have figured it out except that she smelled a little like him," confessed Angel sheepishly. He didn't like displaying his obviously demonic powers, especially not to people already a little spooked by his presence.

"You knew my father?" said Amelia, frowning. "How is that possible?"

Angel shrugged, leaning back. "I might be wrong," he said softly. "It might just be a coincidence. But your last name is Rayne, isn't it?"

She stared at him, and her jaw set very suddenly. "No, it's not," she said, her voice strained. "As he never married my mother, I'm just a bastard, aren't I? My last name is Smith."

Angel frowned. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean… But you are Ethan Rayne's daughter."

"Yes, he was my mom's sperm donor," spat Amelia. "But all he ever gave me was my eyes."

"And a whole world of trouble," said Tom.

Angel eyed Tom. "And you are?"

"A rogue demon hunter."

"Big problem, rogue demons," said Angel dryly. Tom glared at him. "How'd you find her?"

"She found me," said Tom. "I had an office. Was listed in the phone book. After a near escape she looked me up. I agreed to help her, and… well, it's been no fun at all."

The understatement made Angel smile. "I know all about that. You mentioned a prophecy?"

"The demons did, last time," said Tom. "Didn't say what prophecy or anything."

Angel sighed, glancing at Xander and Faith, who were both trying very hard not to look at each other. "What do you guys think?" he asked.

"You're mister in-charge," muttered Xander, turning and stalking up the stairs.

"We'll kill the demons," snapped Faith.

Angel sighed again, putting a hand over his eyes. "Faith…"

"Fine, we'll find out what prophecy, then kill then!"

Tom lowered his gun slowly, staring at them. "We're talking about some very big, very tough demons," he said. "I can see a vampire being able to… a vampire…" He slowly raised the gun again. "A vampire? Come on, your sort is completely evil!"

Angel glared at him. "Yes, they are. Don't trust any of them. I'm not like them."

Faith sighed. "He has a soul," she said.

Tom lowered the gun. "Okay, maybe," he said doubtfully. "Where was I?"

"Telling her she'd only get hurt," said Amelia, eyeing Faith. "I'm kind of with Tom on this."

Faith shook her head. "Then you're both stupid," she said flatly, turning and running up the stairs.

Angel frowned. "I think maybe the best thing would be a trap," he said. Amelia was staring at him.

"What kind of trap?" she asked, as if she already knew the answer.

"Let them find you. Get them to tell you why they want to kill you. Then kill them." He nodded firmly. "It needs some fleshing out, but it's a start."

Tom shook his head. "These are bad, very bad demons!" he said again. "Bigger than anything you've seen!"

"I killed a dragon once," mused Angel. "That was pretty big. And very, very hard to kill. Whatever you have to show us, I don't think it'll be quite that bad."

In the other room the front door was pushed open, smashing it against the wall. There was a quiet growling from the other room. Angel raised one eyebrow slowly.

"And that would be the sound of me being proved wrong," he muttered quietly. "How far behind you did you say they were?"

A demon burst into the room. Tall and bluish, wearing a business suit and carrying a long scimitar, it let out a howl of fury.

Tom whipped around and fired, emptying the clip into its torso, letting out a bellow of rage. As the slide on his gun locked back and it stopped firing the demon stumbled back, blue blood flowing from a half-dozen wounds in its chest.

Then it started forward, growling, undeterred by the gunfire.

Amelia moved back, gasping. "I left the shotgun in the other room!" she yelled.

Then Angel vaulted the desk, his face contorted in a demonic mask. He let out a roar, landing in front of the demon and grabbing him by the lapels of the suit.

"What do you want with these people!" he demanded, yellow eyes meeting icy blue ones.

The demon flinched a little bit. "Half-breed!" he snapped. "Don't get in my way." He tried to brush Angel off him, but Angel held on doggedly.

"What are they to you?" demanded Angel. "Do they owe you money?"

"Read the signs, half-breed," growled the demon. "You're in way over your head."

Angel laughed. "Read the signs? I don't have a Seer any more—apparently I'm on too big a job to be distracted by signs! Spell it out for me!"

The demon growled, and grabbed Angel's shoulder, pushing him away, hard. The lapels of his suit tore off in Angel's grip as he stumbled back.

The demon roared, revealing rows of stubby sharp teeth, and moved forward at Amelia again. Tom had reloaded and was standing ready, still not sure his bullets would do anything.

Angel moved forward again, stabbing the stake he'd been holding in his hand all this time into the demon's eye. As it howled and clutched at its face he moved back to a shelf, reaching up on top of it.

As he pulled a broadsword out Amelia let out a gasp. "Okay, that's cool," she said faintly.

Angel advanced on the demon. "You're big, and you're tough," he said. "So who are you working for?"

"She's Rayne's!" snapped the demon. "Are you one of his too?"

Angel carefully set the tip of the blade under the demon's chin, lifting it. "Why are you pursuing this girl?" he asked quietly, his face shifting back to human form.

The demon gaped at him with his one good eye. "You're Angelus!" he said, as if it made perfect sense suddenly.

Angel smiled. "Angel, Angelus—what's the difference?"

The demon whipped one arm up, knocking the sword aside. Angel kept his grip, letting the blow swing him in a full circle. The sword whipped around and hit the demon in the neck, slamming right through it, throwing his head away towards the other side of the room.

Amelia let out a choking sound, staring.

As the demon's body fell to the floor Angel turned back to Tom. "I think it's time we had a little talk," said Angel.


	2. The scent of the chase

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or situations, or concepts, or anything, really.

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel and Xander try to save a girl from her past while Faith tries to deal with the biggest challenge of her life. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter Two: The scent of the chase

* * *

There was something distinctly discomfiting about watching a vampire try to comfort a human. It was unnatural to begin with, but his awkwardness about it could only be called creepy.

And the way he watched the others, the way Amelia knew he had to want some of their blood, was beyond disturbing. He was a monster, and there was no way to tell herself otherwise.

Tom continued to hemorrhage their story out, telling the vampire everything he knew. Apparently seeing the vampire attack the demon chasing them was more than enough to gain his trust.

Amelia wasn't too far behind, truth be told. She could feel her stomach twisting in knots, and remembered all too vividly seeing blood exploding from wounds that would have stopped a man, blue blood that the monster seemed to have in ample supply.

The strange vampire called Angel continued trying to calm Tom down, inserting "Mm-hm's" and other vague noises when necessary.

But she could see in his eyes that he was having difficulty paying attention. He kept glancing up the stairs that his two friends had stormed up, and playing with his lower lip between his teeth.

"And that's when I realized that the entire D'Tharka clan was involved!" said Tom, gesturing towards the door.

The vampire turned his back on Tom, staring at the staircase in the back of the room. "D'Tharka," he muttered, obviously still distracted.

Ameliawas just about ready to walk out of here. Not only was he a dangerous monster, he wasn't paying any attention to them. It was strange; normally she would be happy that she was being ignored by a predator who was more than capable of killing her. Did that make the day even weirder, that she wanted him to pay full attention?

"It was interesting the way the demon said it," noted Angel, glancing back at the dead demon on the floor. "It sounded as if it was your father who sent him. Anybody else notice that?"

Amelia decided that she was wrong. It was better to be ignored. Especially when the alternative was truths she didn't want to examine too closely because they hurt. A lot.

The dark-haired woman stomped back down the stairs, a stormy look on her face. "Furthermore, he's family!"

"How do you figure that?" asked Angel patiently. "As far as I know he was the last of his bloodline, and he died in the eighteen hundreds."

Faith scowled at him. "He's your Childe, isn't he?"

"Not any more," said Angel.

Tom seemed fascinated by the exchange, but Amelia figured that was just because the woman was gorgeous, in an earthy and smoldering way—exactly the sort of woman men seemed to prefer.

Not that Amelia minded. While Tom had saved her life, he was certainly not the sort of man she was at all interested in. He was heroic and good-looking, but he lacked certain basic qualities—such as being able to talk to other human beings, or notice that they had feelings, or even existed, occasionally.

Amelia stood up. "What on earth are you talking about?" she asked.

Her life had fallen apart drastically in the last year. Demons were chasing her, trying to kill or kidnap her. Her worthless father was involved somehow.

She really had no patience for antics. No time to listen to them babble on about some friend who was probably another vampire and certainly not in as much danger as she was right now.

The girl glared at her, a hard glare that sent a chill up her spine. "You know what priorities are, kid? Priorities are the things Spike has that you don't. Sit down, shut up, and take a number. And, for reference, your number? It's right after his."

Angel turned on her. "I help the helpless; it's my mission statement," he said. "Spike isn't helpless. These guys are."

"Hey!" protested Tom.

The dark-haired man wandered down the stairs, holding a thick book. "Okay, riddle me this; who was your mother?"

Amelia stared at him. Random interruptions hurt her brain, but for these people it seemed like a game. "What?"

"Your mother. I found a reference to Janus's follower, but it's cross-linked to the Mother of Eternity."

"Mother of Eternity?" asked Angel, moving up the stairs and grabbing the book away from the one-eyed man, who glared at him.

"I know, I know, usually a reference back to the really dangerous people. Who do you think it means?"

Angel read the page, scowling. "I think that the Mother of Eternity is a prophecy that's... connected to really dangerous stuff." He glanced at Amelia, his eyes narrowed and a scowl marring his features.

Amelia took the opportunity to examine the dark-haired man with the eye-patch a little closer. He wasn't handsome in the traditional way, but there was something about him eye that hinted at hidden inner strength, and maybe compassion.

Or maybe that was just her imagination going wild because of the way he stood up to the vampire. That definitely was winning him points with her.

* * *

"Mister Rayne? We have the spell ingredients you asked for."

Ethan silently accepted the plastic shopping bag from the serious-looking young man, nodding at him as he returned to his book, squinting at the tiny, cramped handwriting in the margins.

The Nevada government enclave had once been his prison, the prison that the Initiative and Rupert had sent him to. It had been his final resting place, where his oldest friend—and oldest enemy—had sent him to rot.

Strangely, he had liked it even more when it was a prison.

One of the soldiers stopped at his shoulder. "Sir, I just heard back from Finn. Apparently Rupert Giles has decided to visit the US for a while. Stopping in Boston somewhere."

Ethan stared at him for a minute, trying to remember whether he owed Rupert a few blows for his arrest. Finally he decided he didn't, and turned back to his book. "Nice," he muttered. "As long as none of his Slayers show up here asking questions, we're fine."

He continued trying to read the crabbed handwriting. "Mother of Infinity…" he murmured.

Hell on earth was easy to find, he decided.

* * *

The sports car blew through the town at nearly ninety, heading out on the highway. The three inhabitants rode along quietly.

And if Xander thought Angel's plan was insane, he wasn't saying anything. He sat quietly in the backseat gripping the shotgun, watching the scenery go by outside and apparently thinking.

In Angel's opinion, the kid didn't do enough of that. It was a refreshing change.

Faith, in the passenger's seat beside Angel, was pouting and not saying anything. She didn't like being overridden.

Angel supposed it was time to try and reassure her. "Look, Connor and Illyria are there for Spike. And the other Slayers. He's hardly defenseless." Never mind that Angel knew Spike was hip-deep in trouble, or that none of his allies could be counted on. That wasn't important.

"I'd rather be there than here," said Faith. "It doesn't feel right to be here while family is in danger."

"He's not family," said Angel, a little irritated. Why did everyone think that Spike was family? Was this some horrible thing he was cursed with, that they all thought he was Spike's brother? It wasn't funny at all, if so.

Worse still, what if they thought of him as Spike's father? He shuddered, for a moment imagining Connor with bleached-blonde hair and that old familiar sneer of his, which, come to think of it, did remind him a lot of Spike.

If vampires sweated, he would have been in a cold sweat.

"Freaky," muttered Xander.

"What?" said Angel, surprised. Had Xander somehow developed telepathic powers in the last five minutes?

"Just doing some math in my head," muttered Xander. "That girl's about five years younger than me I'd say."

"Too young for you?" asked Faith tersely.

"Ha, ha. Ethan had to have gotten her mother pregnant nearly two decades ago. What was he doing in America at that point? He was running from the freaky demon he and Giles freed on the world. Unless my math is all funny here, he wasn't in America then. I assume she's American. She sounds it. Am I wrong?"

Angel glanced in the rear-view mirror, relieved to see that the girl and the rogue demon hunter were still following them. "So?" asked Faith impatiently.

"So why didn't Ethan go after her earlier? I'm sensing there's more to the story," said Xander.

Angel ignored him, focusing his attention on Faith. "You know, Spike is capable. The most capable vamp—person I've ever known." He had forgotten for a minute that Spike had taken his Shanshu. That happened a lot; it was hard to think of Spike as a human. He didn't seem human, even when Angel could hear his heart beating.

Faith sighed. "I just hate having something going on and being out of the action."

Angel frowned. "Trust me, nobody here is out of the action."

"Speaking of action, how's your girlfriend?" asked Faith.

Angel sighed. "Nina is fine." He wished she wouldn't bring it up. Aside from the tasteless vampire/werewolf jokes Xander invariably started in with, he knew that Faith also didn't like Nina.

Which was weird, all things considered. Angel thought that Faith had a great deal of sympathy for people with darkness inside them. How could having a werewolf in you that came out every month be any different?

At any rate, Angel tried to avoid the subject.

Besides, Nina had settled back down in LA, helping Riley Finn's new military division keep an eye on the hot spots. She had a team, a mission.

It was hard for him to find time to be with her.

Xander leaned forward. "I mean, Ethan's bad news, sure, but at least we're not talking about the end of the world, right?"

Angel didn't bother to correct him. The boy ought to have figured out by now that it was always about the end of the world, or something close.

Faith was staring straight ahead, and Angel wondered just how far she'd managed to read in the book he'd given her. He suspected that she hadn't actually read it at all, and he wished she had. That would have made it all so much easier.

Angel tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "Ethan Rayne is an…inconvenience. Nothing more."

He'd never actually met the wizard. The first time Ethan Rayne had come to Sunnydale Angel had been too busy trying to save Buffy—Giles had filled Buffy in on it later. And Buffy had filled Angel in on it.

Angel had been crazy the second time through.

But Ethan Rayne's smell had been all over the costumes that had driven Buffy and the others into insanity—a smell he was unlikely to forget. A spell he was even more unlikely to forget.

Angel glanced to Xander. "You've met Rayne?"

Xander shook his head. "No, I haven't. Which brings me back to the question of why she looks familiar to me."

Faith wasn't paying any attention at all, and neither was Angel. Xander continued, not noticing. "I mean, does that mean we know her mother too? Or am I just getting some freaky déjà vu thing?"

Angel sniffed the air, trying to catch Faith's scent. But all he could smell was Xander, which just made him angry, for some reason. The loud-mouth certainly had a skill for antagonizing him; his very scent was enough, today.

As if that wasn't enough, they reached their destination. Angel pulled off the highway onto the dirt road that led to the warehouse, scowling. As he parked the car he noted that Tom parked his car so that the headlights were on the warehouse doors.

Angel got out quickly, already itching to kill something. "This is where you stayed last?"

"Yes," said Tom, checking his handgun. He glanced to Amelia, who was loading her shotgun.

Angel appreciated their professionalism, but he knew only too well that guns weren't much use against the things they'd probably be facing. They weren't even much good against him.

Angel shifted into game face, wanting the enhanced night vision. Amelia visibly started, and Tom started scowling. Xander, behind Angel, nodded. "That's just what I say."

Faith moved towards the doors, scowling. "Let's do this," she said harshly, grabbing the door and throwing it open.

A vampire tackled her.

"No!" screamed Amelia, aiming her shotgun. Angel grabbed the barrel, pointing it away.

"You'll hit her!" snarled Xander, a stake already in his hand. But he didn't move forward, just watching the vampire on top of Faith struggling, the two of them rolling across the ground violently.

"Aren't you going to do something?" Tom demanded of Angel, his gun aimed at the struggling pair.

Angel blew on his knuckles. "No."

The vampire went flying, thrown away by a punch. "Get back here!" snarled Faith, chasing him.

"Don't kill him, Faith; we need him more or less intact," said Angel.

Faith punched the vampire in the back from behind, knocking him down as he tried to run. "Intact? Sure. Unbroken?" She grabbed his arms and set a foot on his back, pulling back hard. Snapping noises accompanied the violent motion, and Tom winced.

"Um, she's not human," said Amelia shakily as Faith lifted the vampire to his feet and pushed him against Angel's car.

"Well, yes, she is," said Xander, smirking. "Can I give the speech?"

"No," said Angel.

"She's a Slayer!" said Tom, shocked. "Good lord. I thought they were just myths!"

"Myths? More like miss," said Xander, grinning at the chance to make a pun. Angel rolled his eyes.

"Were you tracking these two?" he asked the vampire, grabbing its shoulder and spinning it around to face him as it yelped.

"Yes! Yes!" babbled the vampire, glancing back at Faith with some fear in his eyes.

Angel let out a sigh. "Faith, dust him. If he's just going to say what he thinks I want to hear, he's useless.

A moment later the vampire exploded into dust. "Hey!" said Angel, stepping back, shocked. "What was that for?"

"You told me to!" said Faith, scowling.

"I didn't mean it! I was just trying to intimidate him!"

"Well, he looks pretty intimidated to me," muttered Xander.

"Don't you start!" hissed Faith, glaring at him. She turned and stomped back towards the car, her face drawn in a tight scowl.

Xander watched her go, puzzlement all over his face. Angel sighed. "Let's go see who else was here."

The inside of the warehouse was empty, and completely clean of any clues, except for the signs that Amelia and Tom had stayed there the night before. Angel examined the makeshift bed Amelia had slept on, trying to sniff out the blue demon who had chased them down.

Tom wandered in behind him. "What's going on here?" he asked in a harsh whisper. "One vampire, one demon?"

Angel didn't answer him, doing his own mental arithmetic quickly. "It's the twenty-third, right?" he asked. Tom checked his watched.

"Yes, yes it is. Why?"

Angel shook his head. "Full moon next week. Problematic."

He didn't bother explaining why it was problematic to Tom. His girlfriend's little werewolf problem was something better kept under wraps.

It also meant going to her for help wouldn't achieve everything he wanted. He grimaced, something Tom did pick up on. Tom was, unfortunately, observant. Angel figured that would create a problem sooner or later.

And Angel was being inundated with them right now. "We need to wrap this mess up as quickly as possible," he said.

"Something big happening next week? Sale on tooth-sharpeners at Walmart?" asked Tom, his voice just a bit too low. Angel glanced at the all-too-serious rogue demon hunter and scowled.

"Demons and vampires don't work together."

He left Tom on that note and went back to the car, where Xander was sulking while Amelia tried to talk to Faith. Xander eyed Angel, then did something Angel thought impossible.

"Hey," he said, his tone of voice civil.

Angel would have had a heart attack, if his heart was still beating. He acted cool, of course, nodding and glancing at Amelia and Faith, whose arms were cross tightly. "They were following them, not chasing them. The vampire probably had a cell phone or something to allow him to report back to his superiors."

Xander frowned. "Wait, so they weren't trying to catch the girl?"

"No. Definitely not. They were chasing her to see where she'd run."

The two of them stood together for a moment, digesting that. Xander crossed his arms defensively, his scowl resuming its normal intensity. "I need to call Giles, start telling him about Ethan's _daughter._"

"Probably didn't even know about his daughter till recently," said Angel. "And that's the worst part, isn't it?"

"What about Spike and his big emergency?"

"That's Spike's problem."

"Time's like this, big guy, I kind of love you."

Angel glared at Xander. "There's something very big, and very bad happening right now."

"Ethan? I don't think it's that bad."

"No, not Ethan. Something phenomenally worse than that. Something that's going to change anything."

"The prophecy thing you're always talking about," guessed Xander. Angel wanted to slap him. He couldn't just tell Xander the prophecy was about him; couldn't just say, 'Xander, here's what it says about you.' It would be beyond cruel. It would be beyond pointless. The boy had to read it for himself. Had to see.

"I need you to be with me on this one. I need your head to be together. I need you to just… I need you for this one. Okay?"

Xander stared at him. "Is this going to involve research?" Angel shook his head. "I was afraid of that. I'm not going to be a lot of use to you guys if it comes down to a fight, you know…"

"Xander, what's coming…" Angel sighed in frustration. "You can't imagine. Not yet. I've read the prophecies… and I'm going to need you on this one."

Angel got in the car and started it, waiting while everyone else took their places silently. He mentally tallied the time it would take to find and dissuade Ethan Rayne, and decided he could clear this up by Thursday.

* * *

In the middle of the crowded LA police station there was an office that nobody else ever talked about, especially not since the incident a few years ago. A portal in the sky, a dragon flying around—it was enough to make most of them hate the thought of the 'X-Files.'

It was unfortunate that they had christened the new office the X department. Unfortunate, but apt. Now that they were being plagued by these things in broad daylight, they needed the coverage.

Not that it made it any easier to think about.

Now two tall blond women were standing together, side by side, both of them distracted. The taller of the two was scratching her wrist absently.

"What do you think?" asked Kate, leaning over Nina's shoulder. "Is this guy on the up and up?"

The other blonde woman gave a start. She stared down at her wrist where she was scratching. "I think the wolf is in me all the time now," she muttered.

"What?" Kate Lockley was not the sort of person to let a mysterious comment go by, and Nina gave her a half-smile.

"Sorry, just my own little mystical problem rearing its head. What?"

"This guy. You think he's on the up and up?"

Nina stared through the one-way mirror at the skinny man sitting in the metal folding chair. "Oh, he's a sorcerer all right. And I'm willing to bet this mystical convergence he's warning us about is real."

"You're going to call Angel, then?" asked Kate guardedly.

Nina sighed. "Yeah, I think we have to, now."


	3. Whose prophecy is it anyway?

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or situations, or concepts, or anything, really.

Summary: After the events described in _Deconstructing Hell_ Faith, Angel and Xander try to save a girl from her past while Faith tries to deal with the biggest challenge of her life. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter Three: Whose prophecy is it anyway?

* * *

Angel was prowling the halls of the tiny building they occupied long after the others went to bed. He had a guilty conscience, and, worse, a hunger deep inside of him that had been growing for quite a while.

The pig's blood diet was for the birds, really. It wasn't the nutritive value of the blood that sustained and nourished him, it was the life force of the dying creature. And pigs didn't have a lot of life in them.

And having a Slayer under the same roof was just a recipe for disaster. Her smell had been enticing before the latest developments. Now they were positively scaring him with the way his bloodlust reacted to her scent. He hadn't been this scared of himself since the last time he'd had the urge to drink Buffy's blood.

He tried to hold the urge down, softly stalking past the rooms he'd put their guests in. Amelia had been tired, which had also aroused the predatory instincts in him, but Tom had remained edgy, which Angel appreciated.

Edgy people made the demon in him more cautious, which made it easier to control. So he tried to avoid people who looked like victims, because they made it so hard for him to control himself. Which only made him feel more guilty, and more hungry.

He had already eaten five full meals that day, trying to keep his hunger sated. Spike had said he was getting heavier, but he had to do something to quiet the insane bloodlust that kept rising up, impossible to sate. So he gorged himself on blood that was becoming less and less appealing to him, blood that couldn't satisfy the cravings he felt.

He found Xander half-asleep on the couch, and his heart sank. "Hey," he said, leaning over the couch.

Xander eyed him, some hostility in his gaze. "I bathe in holy water," he wheezed. The statement was intended to keep Angel off his neck, but it was untrue—Angel knew he bathed in the same shower everybody else had to use—and not a very good way to keep Angel away. Angel knew that holy water lost its potency with dilution, and even if Xander had bathed in it, it wouldn't even burn the tongue of the vampire that bit him.

And that knowledge made Angel even more uneasy.

"Got kicked out, huh?" asked Angel.

"She's just… a little sore, is all," said Xander, sitting up and glaring at Angel. Angel raised a single eyebrow. "Angry, I mean. About Spike."

"Xander, this has nothing to do with Spike," said Angel. "Thank God."

Xander glared up at him. "Happy as I am to hear that, I'm starting to think you're living in delusion land. She's all bent out of shape over Spike! Which is very wrong, and the accompanying mental image just makes it worse."

Angel sighed. Xander kept hearing Faith talk, kept hearing how upset she was, but was entirely missing the reason she was truly upset, the things driving her anger. She might be a little mad about Spike, and talking about it, but Angel knew that sooner or later Xander would need to figure out what was really going on around here. "Sometimes things just happen," he said quietly. "For no reason. You have to accept them, understand them."

Xander frowned, taking a second to try to understand the apparent non sequiter. "You're talking about prophecy again, aren't you? I've dealt with prophecy before."

"Like changing Buffy's fate? I've dealt with far more than you have, and in the end they all turned out just as I was afraid of… even the Shanshu prophecy, ultimately. Though it was given to Spike."

Xander scowled at him. "Well, maybe you just aren't _alive_ enough to change prophecy."

Angel really disliked the younger man at times like this. "You aren't getting this."

"I'm getting it well enough," sniffed the younger man. He was glaring at Angel in a positively unfriendly manner, and Angel could practically feel his skin crawling with the sudden bloodlust.

Curse the boy for having victim written all over him. If he aroused the same predatory response in most demons, it was no wonder he had been the victim, the damsel in distress, so often.

Angel moved away. "I'm trying to explain to you that maybe your life will be impacted by prophecy. Not mine."

The phone rang, and Angel was saved from any further conversation. He fled to the nearest phone and picked it up. There was an odd double-click as he did so, and as he muttered a quick greeting he was already glancing back at Xander, who had flopped back on the couch.

The vampire made a quick hand motion, and Xander rolled out of his bed with a groan, heading for the other phones to check them.

"Hello? Angel?" said a soft voice.

"Nina!" Angel's hand tightened around the phone. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Angel. I just… There's a sorcerer, a mystic, here in LA. He came to us, said that there's something big coming."

Angel didn't miss the hesitation. He wanted to ask her how her battle with the werewolf within was going, but also didn't want to say anything while somebody else might be listening. "What was his name?"

She hesitated. "I was hoping to tell you in person."

Angel wondered if there was a curse bad enough to express the way he felt suddenly. "That bad, huh?"

There was another click on the line. Nina hesitated. "What was that?"

Angel gripped the black plastic phone. "Probably just our shadow. I've got a situation going on here too. Do you feel up to guests?"

He hadn't planned on it, but was pretty sure they could kill two birds with one stone this way.

She hesitated. "I won't have to deal with Spike, will I?"

Angel felt a swelling of pride in his heart. Finally, somebody who didn't like Spike as much as he and Xander didn't! "No, no Spike."

"Good. I don't like the way you get when he's around."

* * *

Xander punched the other man in the face, hard, knocking him to the ground. "I am sick to death of you!" he snarled, adjusting his belt and kicking him. "I've told you not to follow us a million times.

Angel appeared on the staircase. "Found him?"

"Listening in, as always."

Angel sighed, moving down the stairs in a blur just as the dark form on the floor tried to make a break for it. Angel intercepted him at the door and punched him, knocking him back to the ground.

"Am I the only one tired of this guy?" he asked.

"Kick him," said Xander savagely.

Angel sighed, letting the demon struggle to his feet. "Billy, you've got to stop this."

The vampire scowled at him. "I'm on a very important mission," he said groggily. "I have to report back to headquarters; they'll need to know about the latest development!"

Angel heaved another, larger, sigh. Sometimes he thought that Spike was crazy. At times like this he was sure of it. "Billy, I don't think you need to do that. Spike would just be unhappy."

The vampire flinched. "He Who Turned Back is not to be named!" he hissed, his eyes flashing yellow.

"Isn't he your boss?" asked Xander. "Sort of," he added when Billy turned feral eyes on him.

"We do not speak of him!" insisted the vampire.

"Whatever," muttered Xander.

Angel hauled Billy upright. "You and your friends are only alive as long as you stay out of my way!" he snarled, his human mask disappearing, the demonic face underneath revealed in an instant. "I don't care what Spike and the government think about it, either! I'll stake you!"

Billy was already pale, but he managed to look even paler at the outburst. "Yes, of course," he squeaked.

Angel hurled him out the door. "Who keeps letting him in here?" he demanded angrily. "He should need an invitation!"

"I think it counts as a public building," said Xander. "Think he'll report whatever he found out?"

Angel shrugged, his face resuming the human mask with difficulty. The smell of Xander's blood, so much sharper in game face, was making thinking difficult. "Maybe he's scared of me."

But the vampires that followed Harmony weren't that scared of Angel, actually. They were more scared of Spike, for some reason. And despite the complete animal-blood diet and the chips Riley had agreed to put in their heads, Angel didn't trust them and their cult.

Xander shivered. "Soulless vampires working for the government while treating Spike like a god. Is there any part of that sentence that doesn't fill you with the willies?"

"The part about the government doesn't scare me that bad," said Angel.

"That's only because you never had to deal with them. You were gone by the time the Initiative came. If you'd seen them, you wouldn't be so blasé about it."

Angel glanced at Xander, surprised. "You just used blasé in a sentence. And you used it right." The pronunciation was slightly off, but Angel wasn't going to question the details of minor miracles.

Xander shrugged. "I can read, you know."

That reminded Angel of all the reading Xander hadn't done, and his face clouded over. "We're going to see Nina," he told the young Watcher, his hands curling into fists. "She has a problem. We're going to try to kill two birds with one stone."

Xander let out an aggrieved sigh. "And here we go, another excuse to see the girlfriend."

Xander turned and stalked away while Angel's mouth fell open. It was a horribly unfair and untrue statement, and one that very nearly drove Angel to physically attack the younger man.

* * *

Angel hated the days. The entire apartment complex was too small, meaning that he could hear the others easily from his room. He was tired, he was cranky, and they all smelled like food.

It was like having Happy Meals on legs trying to wake him up. Yet another mental image he didn't want that Spike had forced upon him.

He lay there tangled in the sheets, which would have been sweaty if he was a human. Even with the happiness clause gone, his soul wasn't being a lot of help here.

The decision, when it came to him, surprised him. It was Faith and Xander who were driving his bloodlust wild, and Faith and Xander who needed his help the most. But he knew that they wouldn't need his help for a little while yet, and that made now the perfect time to clear his head.

He got up out of the bed and changed, determined to move forward as quickly as possible. He didn't want to give himself a chance to change his mind on this one. Because he would, just because of the bloodlust, if he gave it a chance to further warp his mind.

He needed to clear his head. Before he ended up turning back into the monster.

He pulled on a black shirt (there was a red one, but he only wore that one if he was going to see Spike, who hated the black shirts. "We look like a goth convention!" Stupid used-to-be-vampire) and headed downstairs, where the four humans were quietly planning.

"Change of plans," said Angel tightly, tossing his keys to Xander. "You all head to Nina and Kate. They have a problem and need your help. I'm heading out after Rayne."

Faith stood up instantly, contrition on her face. "Angel, I don't mean to push you away, really! I'm just—"

Angel held his palms up, stopping her. "It's not that, Faith. Trust me, it's not that. It's just…" He couldn't say it. Not to her, not to anybody. What could he say, anyway? _Your neck is starting to look like an all-you-can-eat?_ "I need to do this."

The expression on Xander's face was guarded. He could see things for what they were, and could see Angel for the monster he was, which was more than most people could do. "Meet back up here in a week?"

"I'll call you, let you know," said Angel.

Faith insisted on hugging him, something that brought out more bloodlust than he thought was possible. He had to struggle to keep his human face firmly in place. Xander didn't even bother with a handshake, for which he was grateful.

The only car that was safe for him to drive in the daylight was the specially rigged Viper with necro-tinted glass. Spike had stolen it from him when they were both working for Wolfram and Hart, and had only recently found it still in storage.

It annoyed Angel to no end that it was Spike who had provided him with one of his favorite perks in life. Sometimes he wished that Spike would go evil again, just so he could kill the annoying vampire. Er, former vampire.

Honestly, somebody that annoying ought to be evil.

As he drove away, bathed in wonderful non-lethal sunlight, he heaved a sigh of relief.

Now they were safe.

* * *

Angel wasn't gone five minutes before the ninja vampires attacked.

They came in the windows, the doors, punching holes in the walls. Vampires clad head to toe in black pajamas, no opening at all for their mouths, which was very odd. Vampire fangs were a deadly weapon in combat, and Faith was pretty sure they giving up a tactical advantage.

She didn't have a lot of time to analyze. Over everybody else's screaming she threw Xander up the stairs and took up a position at the bottom of the stairs, smashing the vampires that came close enough to her away with Angel's broadsword, the one he always kept handy.

She could hear gunshots from the other room but ignored them, knowing that with this many vampires it would be all she could do just to save Xander.

Then a large device came sailing down the stairs and exploded, knocking to the ground. She slammed down face first with a thump that knocked the breath out of her.

As she struggled upright she became aware that the nearest vampires in a circle around her had been dusted, and she was soaking wet.

Xander came down the stairs, supersoaker in hand. "All right, who wants some luscious death?" he hissed.

"You made a holy water bomb?" Faith croaked.

Xander looked a little embarrassed as he laid down suppressing fire on the vampires. "The holy hand grenade, yeah. I used a book."

"Could have killed me," muttered Faith, finding a stake in one of Angel's desk drawers and stretching, watching the smoking and screaming vampires. "Hey, does that ninja-thing make it so they can walk in daylight?"

"Yeah, see how they have no eyeholes or anything? But apparently holy water can soak through."

"Awesome," chortled Faith. "Soak them some more."

"You go help Amelia and Tom," said Xander, pumping the action quickly to maintain the water pressure. "I have another holy hand grenade in case they try to rush me."

Faith headed for the other room, where she found the vampires had already knocked out Amelia and were overpowering Tom, who had a cross in one hand that he was trying vainly to swing at his attackers.

"Idiot," muttered Faith, grabbing a vampire and hurling him back the way she'd come. She heard him scream as Xander opened up with the supersoaker.

Faith then walked up behind the vampire attacking Tom and staked him in the back. As he exploded into dust the final vampire in the room turned to face her.

"What's the deal?" she asked casually. "You missed Angel, you know."

He hissed, trying to charge her. She sidestepped and clotheslined him, sending him to the ground, hard. Xander came in the door, still holding the supersoaker. He aimed it at the vampire, who squealed at the sight, instantly realizing what kind of fate was in the garish purple and gray plastic weapon.

"He not talking?" asked Xander darkly. "Because I can make him talk, you know. Take a limb here, a limb there…"

"No, he's talking," said Faith, stepping on the vampire's chest. "Something about Angel, wasn't it? Who hired you? The Singapore branch of Wolfram and Hart? Cuz I know they're still operating."

"We are here to kidnap the child of prophecy, and force her to bend her will to destroy the world," snarled the vampire. "Your world is doomed, for her powers will destroy us all!"

Faith stomped hard on his neck. "Dust him," she told Xander, glancing at Amelia, who was unconscious. She looked up at Tom, who seemed to have understood, and was now paler than when the vampires were throttling him.

"She has the power to destroy the world," whispered Tom, horrified.

"Maybe it's also the power to save the world," said Xander, all too familiar with that sort of prophecy. He'd seen Glory, and knew exactly how dangerous that kind of prophecy could be.

Tom swallowed as Xander fired at the vampire, a chest shot that soaked him. The vampire writhed for a few moments before the holy water finally reached his heart, blowing him into dust.

"We'll figure this out, all right?" said Faith, her voice lower than usual. She was deeply affected by the attack, but the idea that all these creatures of darkness were coming after a girl who was innocent of all wrongs.

She could understand them hunting someone like Angel or someone like Spike, people who had done evil and then saved the world, traitors who had done so much good they were a danger.

But this was something horrible.

She glanced up at Xander, who had a look on his face that mirrored her thoughts. Only with stronger emotions.

"We won't let this happen," rasped the junior Watcher. "They won't have her. We're leaving now. Wake her up, get the car ready. We're going."

Tom hesitated. "That much power… are you sure this is the best way?"

Faith shot him a glare. "You mean kill her? Not on my watch, sparky."

If he had any misgivings about taking idealistic way out they were put aside by the look on her face. Or maybe the knowledge that she was stronger than him.


	4. Apocalypse Now

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel and Xander try to save a girl from her past while Faith tries to deal with the biggest challenge of her life. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 4: Apocalypse now

* * *

The law enforcement offices in LA had changed a little since Xander was last there. They were larger, more serious, more forboding.

And they had hotter women than last time.

Nina walked down the hall with Xander and Faith directly behind her, Tom and Amelia trailing behind the group. She was briefing them as quickly as she could on the sorcerer they'd picked up.

"And at first I thought he was just crazy. It was a possibility," said Nina. "But then he told us exactly why he thought the world was going to end. Apparently something called the Mother of Eternity is coming into the world."

Everybody glanced back at Amelia, who turned red. "I don't know anything about it!" she said quickly.

Nina nodded. "Somebody with the power to save or destroy the world. Unbelievable power. The sorcerer wasn't much interested in the world ending, so he came to us. He'd heard about what we did to save the world when the Pakistani was trying to invoke Ragnarok."

"That was cool!" said Xander. Then he glanced at Faith, who still had a very grim look on her face. "Or not. So, what do we have in the way of specifics?"

"Well." Nina stopped walking and turned around to face him. "Actually, not much. I was hoping Angel would come—he has a book about the Mother of Eternity, he said. And I know it's something he works on a lot."

"Crap!" said Faith. "What about Spike? Has Riley heard from Spike?"

"Apparently there's a whole big thing with that, and with the vampire task force," said Nina. "Riley isn't returning my calls. And Harmony disappeared. And Connor's on the move again. Something's going on, and they won't tell me about it. None of them. So we're on our own." She actually had picked up some hints of the trouble with Spike, and who was blaming whom, and knew that she did not want to start talking about conflicting loyalties with a Slayer.

"Great," grumbled Faith. There was a very deep anger in her eyes, one that made Nina wince.

Xander cleared his throat, trying to change the subject. "So Angel said he'd find Ethan Rayne and stop him. I have Giles flying in. He'll be landing in America soon, and then he'll come on over here. He knows Ethan the best."

But there was uncertainty on Xander's face. He was all too aware that once again he was relying on the heroics and brains of others to save him, and their powerful (yet all-too-girly) muscles.

Faith sneered at nobody in particular. "Whatever. Let's talk to this sorcerer. Did you get his name?"

Nina stared at Faith, as if not sure why the other girl was so hostile to her. Xander was pretty sure he understood it. It was a jealousy thing. And that made him mad, because she was his girl, not Angel's. And she was jealous because Nina took away some of Angel's time and attention.

And he was getting jealous because she was jealous. It was twisted.

"His name is Kent," said Nina finally. "Kate told me to keep him in the magic-proofed cell, but he hasn't given us any trouble so far. He's pretty young, for a sorcerer, and pretty raw."

"Kent who?" asked Faith.

"Actually, who Kent. Nathan Kent. I asked a few people about him, and they said he was a pretty average sorcerer. Of course, since his power's all internal, he's barely a parlor trickster to your friend Rosenberg."

"Not my friend!" growled Faith, turning and throwing open the door to the cell.

He was a painfully thin man with pale, pale blonde hair that he had combed neatly to one side. His cheeks were sunken unnaturally, and his eyes were such a pale shade of blue they looked almost white. He was so pale that the overall effect was that he looked like a ghost.

He grinned quickly, a little too quickly, standing up from the bed where he'd been reading. "Ah, you must be Angel!" he said, approaching Xander.

Xander made a face of undisguised horror. "Gah! Could you start this conversation any worse? I know, call me a pedophile. That might do it."

Kent frowned. "I'm sorry, then…" He glanced around the rest of them, his eyes settling on Tom. "You don't look anything like they said you would," he said apologetically.

"I'm not a vampire," said Tom coldly, stepping back to the wall.

Kent frowned. "But… I know Angel's a man. Er, not a man, but male. I know that. So… you didn't bring Angel here?" A sulky look passed over his face. "Okay, did you not believe me? Is that the deal?"

Faith stepped forward. "Angel couldn't make it. There was another disaster he had to deal with. So he sent me along to try and figure out what was going on."

Kent looked at her, and squinted a little. "A Slayer? That's what you are, right? I mean, there's—I've met a Slayer before, once, but she didn't have anything like the energy patterns on you. Yours are just… crazy."

Xander cleared his throat. "A group of vampires in wacky ninja pajamas attacked us earlier, spouting off about the Mother of Infinity. We think that may be her." He pointed back at Amelia. "Angel went after the guy who's been after her. We need you to try and figure out the connection."

Kent had gone completely pale. "The Mother of Infinity? Oh, crap. I thought that prophecy wouldn't come into play for a long time. I thought we just had to deal with the impending destruction of everything alive." The terror in his voice was very understated, and Amelia started gritting her teeth.

"What?" Faith leaned in closer. "I need you to make sense. Can you do that?"

"No, I got it," said Xander. "It's the Hellfire prophecies, right? Have they been triggered? Because Angel kept tell me the Hellfire was linked to the Mother of Infinity. I mean, he gave me a book on it, insisted I read it."

"Linked!" moaned Kent, sitting back down. "Linked! Of course they'd be linked. The Mother of Infinity… yes, I can see that. The Child referred to in the Hellfire prophecies. The one of many natures. That would be infinite natures, wouldn't it?" He eyed Amelia. "Are you by any chance pregnant?"

Faith whirled to stare at Amelia, who actually blushed. "N-no."

"Good!" said Kent, sighing. "Try and keep it that way… although if prophecy is involved, I wouldn't be surprised if they started without a father. That's just the way these things go."

Amelia's eyes widened, almost comically, but Xander just sat down on the bed beside Kent. "Why do you think the Hellfire prophecies have started?"

"Well, first there was the dragon over LA. That was odd, but it was the first step. 'When the WYRM rises.' I paid attention after that. Dragons are a powerful sign, one that we haven't seen since the middle ages. So I knew it was big. Very big. Then there was word that the Shanshu prophecy had finally reached fulfillment, that one vampire had drunk the cup of perpetual torment and risen from his ashes, phoenix-like."

Xander sighed. "And we're back on the Spike marathon," he muttered. "All Spike, all the time."

Kent stared at him. "You know He-Who-Rose?" he asked.

"Hey!" said Xander. "Nobody calls him that but his pet vampires. Have you been talking to them?"

"Sorry, yes. They were the only ones who could tell me about him. Then, the next sign… the destruction of another dimension. The destruction of the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart. Then a vampire raised from the dead. It was all… just as prophesied. Although I'd never seen it in the prophecies before, but it became obvious, once it had happened."

"What about the passage about the burning?" asked Xander, a little anxiously.

"Oh, it happened," said Kent, giggling. "People have been burning up. And then I heard that a small group of demons was drawing together vampires to serve them."

Faith grabbed Kent, yanking him to his feet. "Don't you dare say Spike is behind any of this, because I know he's not!"

"He's not the only one gathering vampires, Faith," said Xander, staying calm. "Those vampires that attacked us weren't his. They weren't chipped. So, logically, Kent is talking about the demons who sent them after us."

Kent shook his head. "Actually, that would be somebody else," he gurgled.

"What?" Faith put him down gently. "What do you mean?"

He coughed. "There's a secret society... The Fellowship of Eternity has been around for a very long time. A very old, hidden power, one that nobody has bothered going after because they don't do anyone any harm… until now."

"How come I've never heard of them?" asked Xander.

"They're a secret society, and they kept that secret," replied Kent. "Now that the Mother of Eternity has surfaced, they're trying to chase her down."

Xander sighed, rubbing his temple. "Great. Just… great. And Angel pulls his disappearing act. So she doesn't actually have the power to end the world, but her son will?"

"Son or daughter," said Kent nervously. "It's not very clear."

"So we have a secret society, vampires, demons, and Angel. Yeah, it's a Tuesday," sighed Xander. "Does anybody want to say it for me this time?"

Faith cleared her throat. "We can help you," she said seriously. Xander nodded, smiling.

"Help me? No, no, I don't need help," said Kent, confused.

"Hey, work with the mission statement, okay?" said Faith, a bit more anger in her voice than was necessarily warranted.

Xander stood up. "I'll go get my books out of the trunk. It looks like—surprise!—we have some research to do."

* * *

Faith paced across the kitchen floor, trying to find a rhyme or reason in the tile pattern. It seemed random, but she knew it was repeating, and somehow, just then, that repetition seemed like the secret of her life. As if she could figure out everything from the way it was all put together.

As if the patterns of her own life were swirling before her eyes, trying to resolve and tell her how she kept screwing up every good thing.

Nina entered the kitchen, carrying empty plates in both hands. "Oh, hey, you're still up," said Nina, not sounding very happy about it.

Faith examined the slender blond for a second, scowling at her. Even her voice annoyed Faith suddenly, which brought back to her mind the pettiness of her fighting with Buffy. And somehow it always seemed that Angel ended up with blonds, didn't it?

"Yeah, can't sleep," said Faith.

Nina put her dishes in the sink then sat down on a stool, examining the counter. "You know, I wonder sometimes if this crazy, crazy life is really where I want to be. You ever ask yourself that? I had an out. Angel gave me tickets to Brazil, sent me to safety. I could've stayed there. I didn't have to be part of this life."

"Yeah. I've been there." Faith chuckled, sitting down beside the other woman. "Thing is, I chose the out. I swapped sides. Ever hear how that story turned out? Having been there, let me tell you… it's not pretty. What's on your mind, Goldilocks?"

Nina stared down at the table. "I wanted to talk to Angel about this. I don't know if I control myself. It's inside me now, all the time. A darkness I can't escape."

"Welcome to my world. And Angel's world. That's life, eh? Stinks."

Nina looked up, and Faith noticed for the first time that her eyes were red-rimmed, and tear tracks stained her face. She cursed inwardly. Helping others with their problems was more Angel's speed, or Xander's. She did violence. That was all she did, these days.

Faith tried again, this time trying a different track. "You let go to the darkness in you just once, and the next thing you know your best friend is gutting you with your own knife. It's a messed up world. The best we can do is try to make it better." It was an awkward speech. It had originally been one of Xander's few working speeches, but she'd grabbed it and modified it for her own experiences.

She wasn't sure what all that babbling in the middle about crayons was all about anyway.

Nina took a deep breath. "We make a fine pair, don't we? The dark Slayer and the vampire's pet werewolf."

"Um… pet werewolf?"

"Sorry. Just a little post-Beckinsale angst. Did I mention how much I really, really hated those movies?"

"Um, yeah. Sure. I don't watch many movies like that."

"Not even to see how close to right they got it?"

"Well, no… except Blade. Wes Snipes is the man."

But saying Wes reminded her all too much of the Watcher who'd died before they'd really made peace, the one that she'd almost meant to go back to and apologize. They'd made a very crude sort of peace, but she'd wanted more.

She was feeling crappy now. Normally that would mean grabbing Xander and trying to set some records, but right now even that would just bring more guilt. So she just sunk her head into her hands and started to brood.

"You're doing a pretty good Angel imitation," said Nina.

"Yeah. It sucks."

"Like him."

The bad joke managed to make both of them snort, and chuckle, and finally laugh. The joke itself wasn't very good, but they were both way too tense not to laugh.

* * *

Angel didn't bother even asking the question. First he started punching the skinny little demon, breaking several bones, then took out a knife and began carving on the demon's arm. After the demon was screaming pretty loud he kicked it down to the ground.

"Now," he growled. "I have some questions."

"Why didn't you just ask?" groaned the demon.

Angel grinned. "What, and steal all my fun?"

Part of him felt sick for what he was doing. A much larger part felt elation, victory, and glee.

He tried to force the demon back down, crouching over the demon. "What do you know about Ethan Rayne?"

"What? Who?"

"The guy who bought all those books from you. That one. Any clues?"

The demon whimpered, clutching his arm. "Who are you? Are you working for a rival organization?"

"Okay, back to letting the knife do the talking. That's why I started with that, to speed us up, and you want to slow us down? Not smart, man. Not smart at all."

The demon drew back in horror. "Yeah, yeah! The government army dude! He stops by here every week! I got, I got his credit card number! I can show his name! It's got a billing address with it, I can give you that!"

Angel nodded in satisfaction. Then the smile slid from his face as his brain caught up. "Government army dude?"

He hadn't been listening very closely to Xander's stories about the government before, and Xander's paranoia. Suddenly, he wished he had been.

* * *

Xander was sitting on the roof watching the sun set while he read. Or, rather, while he didn't read. The gray slate roof had a gentle slope, perfect for lying there trying to read, but he'd tossed the book over the edge fifteen minutes ago.

Now he lay there on his stomach listening to his heart beat and wondering just how stupid he really was.

At least Angel hadn't become so desperate he'd just out and out told Xander. That conversation would have been hellish.

His forehead was pressed against the cool stone tiles that made up the roof, and he was having trouble convincing himself that throwing himself off the roof wouldn't be the best thing to do right now.

It would be easier than whatever he had to do next. He tried to imagine starting a conversation with Faith, but all his imagination could do right now was make a pathetic gurgling noise.

Or maybe that was his stomach.

He rolled over onto his back and sat up. Faith would probably be working out somewhere, since that was what she did when she was upset. It was healthier than the homicidal rages, so he encouraged it.

And that was where he'd have to go to find her.

He made his way through the building with trepidation. It was one thing to know what he knew. It was another thing entirely to talk about it with Faith.

When he found her she was hitting a punching bag so hard he could see the rope stretching every time her fist made contact. It was an angry one-two, one-two combination was would have pulverized the toughest demon.

It was a little hard not to be afraid.

He knew she had noticed him come in, even though she didn't look up. He went over to a corner and sat down on a weight bench, staring at the floor. "So… Angel told me it wasn't all about Spike, and I guess he was right."

"Spike's in trouble."

"But that's not why you're mad."

She stopped hitting the bag, turning to face him. "What do you think you know?"

"I think I know that those vampires weren't after the kid. They were after the Mother of Eternity."

"Which would be her."

"Or… not. As far as I know she isn't a Slayer. And isn't sleeping with somebody that could be called a Cyclops."

She turned back and began beating the bag again. "Angel told you?"

"He gave me a book of prophecy that made it abundantly obvious to anyone paying attention. Which I was. I think. Are you pregnant?"

Whack. "Yes." Wham.

"I wish you'd told me."

"Why? So you could be all macho and take charge?"

"No, so I could have my panic attack before we had to get a battle plan ready."

"A battle plan? For a baby?"

"A baby that according to an Apocalypse cult has the power to end the world. Yeah. But, no, actually, I mostly meant a battle plan for the Apocalypse cult that is trying to kidnap you. And the baby."

"Oh. Right."

"Yeah."

"Panic attack, huh?"

"Geez, yeah. Complete panic attack. What the heck kind of dad am I? I mean, really. I'm not just a kid any more, but I still feel like one. I'm the least mature guy I know, and I include Andrew in that statement. And Spike."

"And what kind of mom will I make, huh?"

"Well, at least the kid will have a matching set. How far along are you?"

"Prophecy didn't tell you that, huh?"

"Didn't even tell me you were pregnant. I guessed that. Because I'm such a freaking genius that I couldn't catch all of Angel's hints. It just said you were the Mother of Eternity… which makes me the Dad, unless I missed something in all those biology classes I skipped."

"Heh. Yeah." She stopped hitting the bag and came over, sitting down beside him and leaning against him. "I feel like such a freak right now. The mom who has no idea how. I just want… I just want to hit things until they go back to making sense."

"Yeah. That might be hormones."

"That's my usual response, you know."

"I know. But it's seemed a little worse lately."

"I wasn't sure how I was going to tell you."

"Yeah, I guessed that."

"I didn't mean to keep it from you. I just…"

"Yeah."

"I feel like such an idiot."

"Hey. It's okay."

"Cause you're going to make it all better?"

"Heck no. Because I have a billion female friends to baby-sit."

She wrapped her arms around his waist, sighing. "I really should have told you."

"Yeah, but we got here. That's what's important. Ooo, can we name the kid?"

"Well, I don't even know if it's a boy or a girl."

"Well, then we get twice the naming power! If it's a girl, I'm kind of leaning towards Fleboppobilly."

"Fel-what?"

"Well, I always wanted to name my kids something weird. But with all the names of the people we work with we're going to have to try extra hard. I mean, with uncles named Spike and Angel and an aunt named Buffy, we're right at the limit. So Fleboppobilly. We can call her Billie for short."

"And for a boy?"

"Oh, we'd have to call him He-man, for sure."

She giggled, burrowing her face into the crook of his arm. "You just keep on thinking about it," she said.

He nodded, holding her there in his arms as she drifted off to sleep.


	5. Return to Oz

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel and Xander try to save a girl from her past while Faith tries to deal with the biggest challenge of her life. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 5: Return to Oz

* * *

Ethan was eating his dinner when Angel kicked his door open. For just a minute the man stared at the vampire, surprised, before a grin broke over his face. "Ah, you would be Angel."

Angel strode into the Janus worshiper's room, glancing around the small cell. "Well, isn't this… chaotic."

Ethan put his food aside. "Welcome, welcome. Er… shouldn't you need an invite?"

"I already got a blanket invitation from Riley Finn, who happens to be in charge of the entire military operation here. Or he thought he was, anyway. Until he found out you'd been doing some very, very naughty things with his resources."

"Oh, not I. Or, rather, whatever I did, I wasn't the one in charge here."

"Believe it or not, I figured that one out. Or else I wouldn't be dealing with you. So, the guy in charge of the base turned out to be a demon who was working for a larger, bigger organization. Would you believe they made a movie a lot like that?"

"Oh, you don't say," said Ethan dryly. He moved his food onto his bed, standing up to face Angel.

"Yeah." Angel sat down on the bed, examining the food. "Now, your boss, the organization he works for, and your daughter. Kind of an interesting mix."

"Um, yeah. My daughter." Ethan examined his hands. "Yes. Right."

"Because she's not really your daughter?"

"She's my sister, actually," said Ethan stiffly. "When she was conceived I was busy making Ripper's life hell in the jolly ol, you see. I'm pretty sure. I've done the math, anyway. But I do share blood with her, and that's why I was bound and determined…"

"You used a blood spell to get her to lead you to me, right?" asked Angel. "I've thought about it, and why you would want to get to the Mother of Eternity."

"Yes. I see. Good job. And that's how you found the particular cult my new master works for? Good work." Ethan tried not to be too sarcastic. The vampire could have killed him, could still kill him, and he didn't want that, not at all. A worshiper of chaos he might be; stupid he was not. He was very interested in living.

"No. That came after I learned who Riley had put in charge here. And chewed him out for not having me do a background check first. We've agreed to be more open in the future. Which is good for us, not so good for you."

"Ah. This is the part where you kill me?"

"Um. No. Not exactly. I didn't even know your dad was still alive."

"Well, he is, the hateful old bugger. If this isn't the part where you kill me, what are you doing here?"

"Well, that's the thing. I have a lot of problems on my hands right now, and I want your help."

"You want my help?"

"No, let me rephrase. You're going to help me, and in return I won't snap your neck. I might even get you out of this cell, which I'm sensing would come as a relief to you."

"Er. Well. Yes. I can't deny that. Are you sure?"

"Well, I might take your help and then kill you anyway. But if you don't help me, then I'm going to kill you for sure."

"Oh, right. Good point. So, yes, help you. Yes, be happy to! Er, what did you have in mind?"

"Well, you showed this guy where the Mother of Eternity was. I'd like you to cloud that up a little bit. And then let him pass it on to his superior. Before I kill him."

"Ah, of course."

"Then, I'm afraid, you're coming along with me to save your sister from the forces of darkness you unleashed on her."

"Eh. Whatever."

"Well, it's that or, again, I snap your neck. Frankly, I'm thinking you should be jumping for joy."

"Yes, well, it's just that I have a sister who's young enough that you all thought she was my daughter. And besides that, I've never liked my family. And further, it won't earn me bonus points with the God I serve to be going around helping the forces of goodness."

"If it makes you feel any better, I think the whole Mother of Eternity thing is going to be really chaotic. Especially since I know her, and she's practically a force of chaos when she tries to do good."

"Well, I suppose if you're going to sweet-talk like that I'll just have to go ahead and help you. Or have my neck snapped like a twig."

For a minute Angel just stared at Ethan, surprised. "I don't know why I bother to threaten you when you do it so much better yourself."

* * *

Tom was cleaning his pistol on the kitchen table when Amelia wandered in, yawning. "Do they have any food?" she asked him.

He pointed to a cabinet. "There's some of that hideous prepackaged breakfast pastry you like so much in there," he said.

"Oh, poptarts! Yay!" She rushed over and flung the cabinet open. He winced.

"Have you noticed something strange going on?" asked Tom quietly.

"Besides the whole 'hey, Amelia, you have the power to end the world' bit? No."

There was a cough at the door, and Nina came in with the sorcerer, Kent. "Actually, based on our newest information, you're not the Mother of Eternity."

"Ah!" said Tom. "And that would be the something strange I noticed. Then why were they chasing us?"

Kent was frowning at Amelia. "Your father was simply using you to find the Mother of Eternity. He put a spell on you that would keep you running until you found her, and then sent an army after you so that when you found her, they could try to kidnap her."

Amanda frowned. "So… I'm just a pawn? In his evil plans? That really sucks."

"It does," agreed Kent.

"My boss just called," Nina said, glancing at Kent then back to the others.

"Angel called?" Tom asked, standing up.

"Angel's not my boss. He's… um. My boss is… somebody else. So. Awkward." Nina looked down at the floor. "The US military has been infiltrated, and right now they're planning a major offensive to rectify that situation. And somebody close to Angel is in a lot of trouble."

"So Angel's going to go help her?" asked Tom.

"Why do you assume it's a her?" snapped Nina. "It's a he. And no, he's not, because as much as he loves his family, he's awfully pig-headed sometimes. So he's not. Spike's on his own for this one. Besides that, a Doomsday cult is trying to kidnap Faith. So we have to do a little sleight of hand. If we can talk her into it."

"The Fellowship of Eternity you were talking about, right?" asked Tom, pointing at Kent. Kent nodded. "But we're clear?"

Nina cleared her throat. "Not yet. However they traced her, they can do it again. And whatever spell he used against his own daughter to make her find the Mother of Eternity… he can do it again. So until we've taken Rayne down, I'm afraid not."

"That rat," whimpered Amelia, sitting down beside Kent. "I can't have a normal deadbeat dad, I have to have one that tries to kill me, don't I?"

"If it's any consolation, I feel your pain," said Nina. "Well, I don't. But everybody here understands betrayal. Well, most of us. Well, I do. Well, sort of. This is awkward too."

* * *

The car hurtled down the freeway at unsafe speeds, and Ethan, sitting with white knuckles in the passenger seat, glanced at the vampire who was driving.

"I have superhuman reflexes," said Angel. "You're not going to die. Well, not from the driving, anyway."

Ethan grimaced and looked away. "You know, I've caused more chaos in my day than most humans, but you really should consider aligning with Janus. The chaos you cause just by existing is pretty impressive."

"Sorry, chaos is more Spike's gig. I'm the vampire with a soul, champion. I think." The tiny car was shaking, which was understandable at speeds over a hundred miles an hour.

"Sure."

"Besides that, I'm completely aligned. And so is Spike."

"Right. I agree entirely. Do you know what a blinker is?"

"And, furthermore, your god of chaos is also a god of evil, you know. A demon god, not any kind of loving, forgiving, merciful god who'll save you. Mostly he'll just eat your soul. If you're completely successful."

"Yes, well. We all have our little quirks and foibles."

"Mine is that I'm about to go insane from bloodlust. So don't push it."

Ethan snorted. "You wouldn't eat me, not after we've worked together."

"I've eaten a lot of coworkers over the years. Not eating you would probably make you the exception, not the rule. Now… shut up."

"Heh. I'm sure."

"Seriously."

They rode in silence for a while, and then the curiosity was too much for Ethan, who'd never been very good at self control anyway. "So, you're back on the side of good again?"

"What do you mean, back?"

"I heard you were heading an evil law firm."

"I destroyed them."

"Oh. I thought that was Spike."

"Seriously, I am hungry. And I will eat you. So just shut up. Right now."

"No, I mean, aren't you soulless right now? I was pretty sure you were."

"No, I wasn't."

Ethan snapped his fingers. "Right, you got it back, and you're guarding the Mother of Eternity! Here I thought you must have claimed the power for yourself."

"Seriously, you're a prisoner. I don't need you, you have nothing I want. Except your blood."

"Well, seriously, you say? Where are we going?"

"To meet an old friend. He insisted."

"Er… what?"

Angel sighed. "Don't try to understand it. Just roll with the punches. Now sit still, I have to make a phone call."

* * *

Xander stirred when the phone started ringing, but didn't answer it. Faith sat up in the bed, adrenalin already surging, before realizing it was just the phone. She threw herself back into the bed with a groan.

"You gonna get that?" she asked sarcastically, reaching over the softly snoring Watcher to grab the phone off the nightstand. "Yo, this is Faith."

"Is Xander there?"

"Angel!" She lay back on the bed, snuggling up against Xander. "He's here, but unconscious."

"Ugh… I don't want to know."

"No, he's just a heavy sleeper. Yo! Xan! Dark and fangy is calling for you."

Xander stirred. "M' a daddy."

"Yes. Very good sleuthing. Want to talk to Angel about it?"

"Grr. Yeh. Angel? Where's he?"

"On the phone. The phone. Here." She pressed it to Xander's head.

"Egh?"

She leaned in close enough to listen to Angel speak, nuzzling against Xander's neck.

"Xander? You're still asleep, aren't you? Did you just say you're a father? You read the prophecy, finally?"

"Yesh. Dirty trick."

"Not telling you? I figured I was the last person you wanted to hear that from. So… the Fellowship of Eternity is after you, and your baby. After a length discussion with one of their lieutenants, the one who sent the girl and that demon after us, I've got a new lead. I need you to hide Faith."

"What?" said Faith, outraged.

"He also sent an army of vampires in black pajamas," said Xander, waking up quickly now. "So, hiding. What do we do?"

"Well, I want you to requisition the special RV and head out. There's five thousand dollars in cash hidden in it, usual spot. Pay for everything in cash. Keep your heads down. Keep moving. There's not a single mage on this planet who can sniff you two out, with all the stuff we put on that RV. Don't go more than fifty feet from the RV at any time. Its aura of protection doesn't extend too far."

"Wha' about Nina?"

"Um. Tell her that Kate should know what to do in case of impending emergencies."

"Blow stuff up?" asked Faith sarcastically.

"Yes. That should draw attention away from you guys."

"How will you find us?" asked Xander.

"Don't worry about that. You guys should be able to find me, if my plans go right. No cell phones on, no contact with the outside world. Off the map."

"We can do that," said Faith, sighing. "But I'd really rather take the fight to—"

"No! A world of no!" snapped Angel. "Look, I have a certain amount of experience on this, okay? What with Connor and all. The last thing you want to do is expose yourself. Er… you know what I mean. I'm going to go do the fighting. Zero risk to the baby."

"I knew having a kid was gonna suck all the fun out of life," sighed Faith.

"And no smoking or drinking while you're pregnant," growled Angel before hanging up.

"I hate him," grumbled Faith. She took the phone off Xander's head and hung it up.

Xander sat up in the bed, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Yeah, but look on the bright side."

"Swollen belly and morning sickness?"

"You can hit people all you want and blame it on hormones."

His eyes widened comically just before she kicked him off the side of the bed.

* * *

Nina stretched, trying to stay calm and centered, before sitting down at the computer. Sometimes the computer made her mad, which invariably made her a little too wolfish. She was trying to avoid that.

So, now she was zen.

She opened up her web browser and clicked into her favorites. The support board was the first one up, and she went looking for replies to her thread.

There were three.

"Wildandfree: Dude, don't knock it. Being a wolf roxxors! They're sheep, man, rope for the plcukings!"

It took her a second to interpret that, first for the netspeak, which was a generation past her, and then for the typos. When she got it she started to get a little mad. She came to this site to get help controlling the wolf, not to have her face rubbed in what she had become. She hated that type, the ones who got into it, who loved it. Not just because she was afraid of becoming them, but because she had to hunt them down.

She carefully opened the back door the tech guy had set up, finding the guy's IP address, and wrote it down. They liked to keep track of that kind.

The next message was from a long-time regular to the boards, one she had a lot of respect for. She'd read a lot of his work.

"Thewizardof: Hi. New here? I've been there. Meditation is only so good. There's some talismans that lessen the moons effect. And some mytical tattooing that'll help with the bloodlust. It never stops, though. Never. If you're lucky, the beast can be held down, can be locked away. But never tamed. E-mail me at ."

She stared at that message for a long time. She had known he was good, but he had managed to both pique her interest and scare her. He was very good, and she hoped he was right, because she needed to lock the beast away.

She opened her e-mail quickly.

"Please, tell me more about the magical aids. I need them, bad. I can't even sleep any more. Too afraid I'll wake up in somebody else's blood!"

She sent it and took a deep breath, tabbing back to read the third entry.

"Youknowwho: Um. Wow. Have you tried talking to Angel? I think he understands. I used to know a guy… a wolf, like you. He might know."

Nina stared at the enigmatic entry, trying to stay calm. The tag alone was enough. You know who? She did know who. She knew Buffy liked to keep tabs on her, just because. But having her intrude on the support board… that just seemed wrong. Like an interrupted therapy session.

Still, the Slayer did have her best interests in mind. She hoped.

She was just getting ready to close the browser when she got an e-mail. She opened it, hoping it was the wizard.

It wasn't.

"From: Harmony Kendall

"The package is en route."

She stared at it for a long time. It was scary that Harmony was turning into a competent soldier. Scary that Harmony, a soulless vampire, was the one they turned to in emergencies. Scarier still that she so often played good soldier to Riley's bad soldier.

But Harmony was technically Nina's boss now, and so she had to deal with the vampire. She composed a formal acknowledgment, and sent it back to Harmony, hoping that Harmony wouldn't be visiting personally.

Although, truthfully, she was the only woman Nina knew that got along reasonably well with both Angel and Spike. That is to say, they both ignored her, and had never once gotten into blows over her. And as far as she knew, only one of them had slept with her, which made her a rarity in their lives. In fact, the list of people that one had slept with that the other hadn't slept with was, as far as Nina knew, down to two people. Nina, Angel's current girlfriend, and Harmony, Spike's current girlfriend. (she hoped Spike wasn't out starting any new relationships... that would just make things more complicated)

Nina was trying not to let their history together repeat itself any more.

* * *

Giles was waiting at the airport bar when Angel showed up with Ethan. He was sitting with his back to the door, a single half-empty glass in front of him that was probably his first.

He looked over his shoulder, rolled his eyes, and downed the last of his drink. "Bloody terrific," he muttered.

"This is our contact?" asked Ethan, angry. "Ripper?" He paused for a second. "Actually, it does sort of make sense."

Angel pushed Ethan, hard, knocking him into the chair beside Giles. "Okay, we don't have a lot of time, and we've got to summarize the whole thing."

"I'm on my way to deal with a real emergency," said Giles frostily, referring to Spike and his dealings with the other Slayers. "Do you think perhaps we could focus on that?"

"Faith is the Mother of Eternity," said Angel, sitting down beside Giles. "The Fellowship of Eternity is after her. She's already pregnant. And Ethan here let them know where she was."

Giles took a very deep breath, closing his eyes. "Oh, yes. I've certainly missed this." When he opened his eyes they were very angry, and very cold. "My two least favorite people in the world with their very own secrets tailor-made to kill the people I love."

"In my defense, I was forced to work for the Fellowship because they took over the prison I was in," said Ethan quickly.

"And in mine, it was too dangerous to tell you. I was keeping Faith hidden," said Angel.

"And that makes it all better? Good intentions?" asked Giles. Angel shifted into game face, leaning forward over the table.

"Focus!" he snarled. "How many drinks have you had? It doesn't matter. I hate you, you hate me, we all hate Ethan. But Faith is in mortal danger, and the world may end. Can we focus?"

Giles sighed, taking a cell phone out of his jacket pocket. He dialed silently for a moment, then held the phone to his ear. Then he looked at it suspiciously.

"Hit the send button," suggested Ethan.

Giles hit the send button, then pressed it to his ear again. "Dawn? Yes. Yes, of course. No, in fact I have a… a lead. Yes, a lead. I'll have to pursue this. No, don't worry about it. Yes. Of course. I'll try. Goodbye." He stared at the phone a second, then hit the end button and replaced it in his pocket. "Where do we begin?" he asked, signaling for a refill.

"I got some information from the demon who'd infiltrated the prison that was holding Ethan. I learned a few things," said Angel.

Giles glared back at him, hatred practically coming out his pores. "Yes, of course. Where to, then?"

Angel smiled. "The Antarctic."

Both men stared at the vampire in consternation, and he relished it. These days he wasn't able to spring many surprises, since he was surrounded by so many smart people, and he loved springing surprises.


	6. Cold as Aitch Ee Double Hockey Sticks

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel and Xander try to save a girl from her past while Faith tries to deal with the biggest challenge of her life. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 5: Cold as Aitch Ee Double Hockeysticks

* * *

Angel rubbed his hair ruefully, staring into the mirror that he couldn't see himself in. It was at moments like these, in a plane miles over the South Pole, that he hated himself.

Well, actually, his self-esteem problems were a lot larger than that, but being over the South Pole in an airplane with a man whose lover he'd killed tended to make him introspective, which tended to bring out the worst in him.

He wiped the blood away from his lips, checking to make sure he was cleaned off.

Hiding in a tiny plane's tiny bathroom so he could eat his blood without reminding the other passengers that he was a blood-sucking creature of the night. Yeah, this was one of the highlights of his un-life.

When he returned to his seat he noted that Giles was asleep, while Ethan was trying to unobtrusively cast a spell on him. Angel cleared his throat, and Ethan coughed, turning away from Giles as if he was completely innocent.

Angel examined the prone Watcher. "A glamor?"

"Well, I don't have the ingredients for something truly nasty," said Ethan. "I was just going to make him think I'd turned him into a Fyaarl again."

"You turned Giles into a Fyaarl." Somehow Angel couldn't bring himself to be surprised by this. "You know, making him think he's strong enough to tear your head from your shoulders is really not the best way to stay unharmed."

"But it's funny!" protested Ethan.

"And chaotic. You just never quit, do you?"

Ethan shrugged. "It's loads of fun." He left unsaid that the greater part of his existence he had considered himself Giles' friend, and finding himself on opposite sides from the other man hadn't greatly altered how he felt. In fact, it had added quite a bit of fun to their lives, as far as he was concerned. A dose of chaos that he found hard to find anywhere else.

Angel sat down, glancing out the window at the darkness outside. "You know, I have to wonder about the sanity of people who hide in the Antarctic."

"Well, with dark magic they'll never get cold. All that hellfire licking at their feet."

"Yeah."

* * *

Amelia was sitting at the table when Xander and Faith went through, carrying bags and arguing animatedly. "No! Seriously!" said Faith, in that angry, sultry, smoker-strained voice of hers that Amelia hated so very much already. "I think it's a great name for a boy."

"We're not naming any kid of mine Angel. Or Spike, before you ask!"

"Well, Jesse is a terrible name for a guy. I mean, I can see a girl named Jesse, but not a guy."

"Oh, come on, that's a terrible name for a girl. It's a guys name!"

"No, it's not! You might as well just name him Jane or something!"

Xander rolled his eyes, glancing to Amelia. "We're taking off. Have fun. Say hi to Angel for me will you, when he gets back?" He mimed a punch. "Seriously. He won't hit you back, and he'd hit me!"

"Don't hit Angel," said Faith. "Whether he'll hit back or not, it really sucks."

"So does he!" said Xander gleefully, eager to get in a vampire pun. No matter how lame it was getting through repetition. Faith glowered at him.

"If it's a boy, we are naming him a nice, normal, macho name," she told Xander.

"Oh, like what? Robin? Nick? Ha ha."

"Listen, if you're going to start bashing on my ex, we're gonna have words," said Faith. "And I have all kinds of hormones I can blame any broken bones on. Comprende?"

Xander rolled his dark eyes, and slung his bag over his shoulder, heading out the door. Faith followed him silently.

Nina came running after them. "Wait, wait!" she yelled. Faith stopped in the doorway, turning back with a cautious look on her face.

"What?"

Nina stopped, huffing for breath. "The Spike situation just got a lot worse; we have Slayer dreams, we have conspiracies, we have all kings of crap!"

Faith sighed. "Do you have a phone I can use right now? I want to call Spike."

Xander came back into the room. "After this, we can't call him again," he told her. "We're going incognito. We have bigger problems. Okay?"

Faith shook her head. "I wish we didn't."

"Yeah, me too."

"Why? You don't even like Spike?"

"Yeah, but better to be bailing him out than to be being chased by our very own cult, right? I'd rather bail him out a thousand times than have to run away. I hate it. And so do you."

She grimaced at him, taking the phone Nina offered her and dialing. "I can't believe you're so right. And at the same time so wrong. You know, it's terrible that you and Spike don't get along. Criminal. And, what? Over Buffy?"

"It goes deeper than that," sniffed Xander. "It goes into the way I helped him out so many times and got kicked in the teeth for my troubles. It goes into all the times he betrayed us."

Faith held up a finger. "Hi, fruitloop. Yeah, I had the dream too. Is everybody all right?"

Xander snorted. Faith frowned, nodding. "Do you actually believe them, fruit loop? Men are like that. They tell you what they think, but it's never what's real. It's always fake."

A second later she handed the phone back to Nina. "Wild."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Xander.

"I mean there's something going on with her. Something about the way she said Spike's name. But they think they have it all under control, I guess."

"No, I mean that comment about men."

"I think she may have a little UST going on with Spike," said Faith. "I don't want her falling into that trap. The guy's a heart-breaker, if ever I saw one. I don't mind having him for a friend, but he'd break that poor kids heart."

Xander's eyebrows went up a little. "Okay, you know what? I'm officially taking back every time I nagged at you for being Spike's friend, because … well, nothing." Because he always assumed that a little bit of grace to Spike meant total forgiveness; something that he hated, since it was what he would never extend to himself. Faith knew that. He might be the one that saw, but she could see through this man so easily.

"Because you thought just because I thought he was an okay guy meant that I was blind to his little faults? Please. Give me some credit," said Faith.

"I'm officially giving you credit. Right now. I bow to your skills at reading people."

"Good. And don't you forget it when we're on the road."

* * *

If there was a flaw with the plan of confronting the evil overlord in his lair, it was that the evil overlord lived in Antarctica.

Angel glanced up at the surface of his parachute, trying to distract himself from the feeling of dropping into darkness. The ground was below him, somewhere far away. Too far away.

He hated the feeling of falling. That feeling of his stomach flipping and flopping and a dozen other interesting things.

He was a vampire. He could probably survive the fall, even without a parachute. Maybe it was a habit, left over from being a human. He'd never liked flying, anyway. But falling… parachuting…however you dressed it up, it scared him.

Not as much as he'd been scaring himself lately, but more than enough.

The satellite phone on his hip rang.

He sighed, opening it up. "This is Angel." He hoped it wasn't somebody important, or somebody who wanted to talk to him. He could feel every dark and unsavory bit of himself, of the demon within, rising to the surface, and he desperately needed to keep it down. There were only distractions out there.

"Angel? Riley here. We have a problem."

"We always have problems."

"I have a Spike lookalike attacking Slayer safe houses. We have Slayers dead."

"Oh, crap. Look, I'm in Antarctica, Riley; can't this wait?" Besides, he wasn't worried about the Spike situation. The worst that could happen was that Spike could be killed; or he could be evil, but then Angel would finally get to kill him.

"I'm getting pressure from the Slayers to bring Spike down. And Spike has a crazy plan."

"Why are you calling me?"

"Well, Spike said that you needed to be kept in the loop. You might hear… nutty things. It's all part of his plan to confuse the bad guy."

"Yeah, you guys go ahead with that. I'm in the middle of trying to bust the Fellowship of Eternity apart before they can kidnap Faith."

"Okay."

Riley hung up, and Angel hit the ground, more or less simultaneously.

That was where he lost the phone, he was pretty sure. In the darkness, covered by the descending parachute, and slammed into the earth, he couldn't hang onto it.

Giles and Ethan were still in the plane. It would circle and find a good place to land, and they'd come in on the snowmobiles. They probably wouldn't get there until sometime after the sun had risen, which was too long for a vampire.

Death wasn't on the menu for him, not today.

He ripped through the parachute with frenzied hands, standing up in the middle of it. He was wearing the same clothes he usually wore. The cold couldn't steal the life from him, not unless it got so cold he froze solid. He was already cold and dead, and there was no spark of life in him.

Only a demon that animated dead flesh, a grotesque parody of the life it stole.

He stalked forward, following the scent of humans towards the large facility they'd spotted from the air. It was officially a US research base.

And what better place to hide and plot and scheme? Nobody would find them here. Nobody would accidentally stumble on the place. There would certainly be no Slayers patrolling this place.

And if he hadn't been tipped off, he never would have found it.

He shifted into game face so he could see in the darkness. Less than fifty feet in front of him was a door, a big metal door, in the side of a snow drift. He could see tracks where people had come outside. He could see the rough landing field where a helicopter had landed.

He headed for the door, slogging through the deep snow. He knew he was leaving easy to follow tracks, but right now the demon inside of him was just burning with the desire to destroy, to kill, to wreak havoc.

And he didn't feel like fighting it right now.

He remembered his kid sister all too well. The girl he'd loved negligently as a human. The girl he'd killed as a vampire. He'd failed her on so many levels it wasn't even funny.

Faith had been a second chance for him, in so many ways. They said that addicts found redemption most the time in helping other addicts. Being a bloodthirsty killer wasn't one of the usual addictions, but he had seen goodness in her. Even when she'd been choking the life out of Xander, he'd seen salvation and redemption hiding right behind her.

He'd tried so hard to help her. He'd saved her as often as he could, and she had saved him too.

And right now this cult seeking the destruction of the world was threatening her.

The only other person that Angel would go as far to protect as he would for Faith was Connor. And even Connor came in second. Even though he knew that both of them could defend themselves, he still was filled with rage when anybody tried to mess with them.

Add to that the bloodlust that being around a pregnant Slayer had awoken in him, and he was going to do some serious damage here.

The door wasn't even locked, and he drifted inside silently, waiting for somebody to notice him, to attack him. He could hear the rumble of distant generators trying gamely to make a space here where human life could continue, burning away madly to produce the heat they needed and he did not. The heat after the cold was refreshing, but it couldn't reach his heart.

The lights were on, so he let his game face fade away, looking around with his human façade in place, so as not to warn anybody here what they were dealing with. But he couldn't see anybody.

He went on the hunt.

He walked through the base like a ghost, silently, implacably. When he did find a guard he killed him quickly, snapping his neck from behind while the guard tried to read. He felt a tiny pang of conscience, but tamped it down.

The entire base was set up in a ring shape, so that when he was finished stalking through it, killing all the guards he found, he was back at the beginning. He paused for a second, stymied.

It was on his third time through that he spotted the door, mostly inconspicuous, that led inside the ring. He headed in.

A receptionist was sitting at a desk, filing her nails. Angel hesitated, but she looked up and frowned. "You guys aren't supposed to come in here. Are you new here? Where's your badge?" She turned, reaching for a button on her desk.

He vaulted the desk so fast her hand didn't have time to make it. He grabbed her arm and used it to throw her back over the desk. She looked up at him in terror, and he shifted into game face.

"So, how many are there, where are they, and how can I kill them?" he asked her, stalking out from behind the desk.

She was so full of terror. It felt like very drug he'd ever taken, topped off with every women he'd ever laid. It felt so guilty and wrong he thought if his heart wasn't dead or cold it might explode. It felt so right that he wished he could stay here forever.

Monster. Dead, cold thing, predator. Killing little girls.

"I don't want to hurt you," he said, crouching down over her.

**Liar.**

"Your employers are very, very bad people. They deserve this. Just tell me where they are, and this will all be over."

And she just stared at him in terror, and this was so wrong, so wrong. Why did it feel so good? Why was he such a monster? He could feel his stomach boiling.

And he'd killed the guards, but hadn't drunk any of their blood.

Why had he killed the guards? It finally occurred to him that it hadn't been in his original plan to kill the guards. Just knock them out, get the job done. He'd expected vampire guards, anyway.

But he had. Lost in the moment, stalking human prey through the shadows, he'd fallen into the old patterns again so quickly.

He hated himself.

He helped her up to her feet, letting his face shift back. It didn't want to, and he had to force it back, push the bloodlust away.

He couldn't go near Faith, he realized. Like this, he would lose it. He would lose it just one time, and he could never forgive himself for that.

If he touched her, it was walk-in-the-sun time.

"Miss, be calm," he said, trying to keep his voice level. Why did she have to be a blond? He always had a thing for blonds. "Tell me where your bosses are."

She pointed at the door. "Inside. I don't know," she said, miserably, certain she was about to be killed."

He jerked his thumb towards the other door. "Wait out there. You don't want to see this."

* * *

Giles glanced out the tiny window into the darkness. "Well, here we are," he said, watching the tiny airstrip come up at him. "Working together to save the world."

"I am not," said Ethan, though there was no heat in his voice. "I'm here under the threat of violence."

"Yes," said Giles, turning around. "And I'd just like to remind that I'm just as capable of doling it out as Angel."

Ethan threw his hands up with a sigh. "After all we've been through together!"

"After all you've put me through," corrected Giles.

"You're certainly on edge."

"Being stuck with you is bad. Having to rely on Angelus is worse."

"Ah." Ethan sounded smug, now.

"Shut it."

* * *

Xander woke up with about one hundred and twenty pounds of freaked out Slayer pressing down on top of him, her arms tight around him. "Oh god, oh god, oh god!" she whispered fearfully. "Slayers died. Slayers died."

"Spike again?" whispered Xander, trying to comfort her while his brain was still waking up.

"Yes and no. It wasn't him. I could see that. Agh! This sucks, not being able to help him when he needs it. Not being able to help my sister Slayers when they need it! Just plain not being able to help."

"It's not your fault. Not your fault." He stroked her hair, wrapping his other arm around her waist. "Angel will take care of the guys following us soon enough. Then we can help out."

"It'll be over by then," she said darkly.

"Don't worry," he whispered, tightening his grip. "They can take care of themselves."

It was cold comfort. At times like this it was hard for him to be supportive. He hated Spike massively, despite everything that had happened. Despite knowing that Spike was on their side. Despite knowing that Faith considered him a friend. Maybe especially because of that last one.

But he wasn't such a fool he'd let that get in the way of helping an ally--or in the way of standing by Faith's side.

It still hurt.


	7. Antartica

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel and Xander try to save a girl from her past while Faith tries to deal with the biggest challenge of her life. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 7: Antarctica

* * *

Ethan thought it was unfair that Giles got a gun and he got to go first. After all, what was he, just a giant human-shaped decoy to attract bullets and save Ripper's life while being shot down himself?

Well, yes. Of course he was. He kept forgetting his place here, and Giles was so kind, reminding him of it.

"Hello," said Ethan cautiously, entering the hidden Antarctic base. He was a bit surprised the security wasn't better.

Then he spotted a dead guard, lying in a pool of his own blood staring at the ceiling. That wasn't part of the plan, he didn't think. Not with the heroes, surely? He had spent quite a bit of time among villains, and perhaps had forgotten how heroes did these things, but he was pretty sure that this lot was not so cold-blooded as all that.

"Well," said Giles, following Ethan in. "It appears he had some plans for these people. And some pent-up rage."

"Yes, lots of the rage," said Ethan. "Oodles."

Giles rubbed his face. "Oh, dear Lord."

"I've missed hearing you say that," said Ethan ruefully. "It really captures the sheer and utter depth of the trouble we're in. Why are we in trouble now?"

"You've missed hearing me say that? I only said it when I was about to carve your liver out."

"Those were good times. Very chaotic."

"You know, I've just now realized why you kept coming back to Sunnydale despite being beat every time. You enjoyed getting beat up. You're a bloody masochist!"

"Well, I didn't enjoy the pain. But the fights! They were thrilling. I mean, it was special. Nowhere else could I get such thrilling banter, such dashingly heroic enemies—you know I live for that sort of thing."

Giles sighed. "You just never grew up, did you?"

"No, never. And I don't plan to, just because I'm getting old and wrinkly."

"Well, at some point, you no longer have a choice in the matter," growled Giles. He moved forward, kicking a door open. A girl was crouched in the corner, hugging her knees and sobbing, and Giles let out a long sigh. "Are you all right?" he asked her.

"M-monster," she sobbed.

"Yes, I rather let him in, I'm afraid," said Giles, glancing back at the dead body behind them. "Which way did he go?"

She pointed back inward, and Giles rushed forward. Ethan hesitated, then followed him.

Angel was up on a table when they found him, surrounded by dead bodies. He was holding his head in his hands, looking for all the world like a guilty child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Good lord," whispered Giles.

"I can't help it! The smell of her… it's haunting me now!" growled Angel, looking up at them, still in game face. There was blood smeared down his face. "Don't look at me like that. You knew I was a monster when you agreed to come out here. That's the whole point, isn't it? Use the monster you hate on the enemies gunning after your little girls?"

Giles went to a one-handed grip on his gun, sliding his right hand into his pocket. "Isn't this more Angelus' shade of gray?"

"Don't go for a cross, or a stake, or holy water. You have no idea what kind of bad mood I'm in," warned Angel. "These clowns aren't affiliated with Wolfram and Hart, which means Spike doesn't know diddly-squat about them. He's very blind, sometimes... to other people's problems, I think."

"He has his own problems anyway."

"Ah!" Angel dropped his hands from the sides of his head, leaning forward on his knuckles. "You aren't paying attention. They aren't affiliated with Wolfram and Hart. That means that we don't have any inside information on them, like we do on most evil organizations. That's been our hub, our source, our way in! And the base here is astonishingly empty. Just guards, cleaned out filing cabinets, and flunkies. Somebody cleaned up here recently."

Ethan moved over to the corner of the room, where a filing cabinet had been knocked over. "Scoured clean. I wonder how they found out we were coming?"

"If they'd known, they would have burned it," growled Angel. "They're on the move, and we're a step behind, and I'm having trouble controlling myself. Do you have any idea how monumentally screwed we are?"

"I'm getting the picture."

* * *

Xander carefully rolled the window of the RV down, leaning out the driver's window and dropping coins into the metal cage below him. "Thanks, have a nice day!" he said as the toll began clicking and whirring.

Faith was lying curled up in the fetal position on the seat opposite him, leaning back and trying to doze. Her eyes were open now and she was blinking sleepily out into the darkness.

"You talking to machines again, Xan?"

"Yeah. It's wacky, but fun. How're you doing?"

"Ugh. Dreams about Spike."

"Mega-ew."

"I mean Slayer dreams, twit."

"That's still an ew, at least. A little one, maybe."

"Eh. Do I complain about your Jenna Elfman dreams?"

"That's different. It's art."

"Huh. You know, there is no situation so terrible you can't make it just a little worse, is there?"

"Not one. Buffy died the second time, and I said, not again!"

"That's awful."

"Yeah, I know."

"Did you really?"

"No. I was pretty shook up. So, bad dream?"

"Well, yeah. Spike killing girls. Again. I'm pretty sure it was happening, too. Kind of rough."

Xander was silent, watching the empty road ahead of them for a minute. "You know, could we pretend for a minute that I'm the kind of person who doesn't trust Spike? Or, on second thought, don't pretend."

"It wasn't really Spike, though. It looked like him, but it didn't act like him."

"So he's not in control? Terrific."

She tightened up the fetal ball. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Sorry."

"It's not… egh! It really isn't, but you don't see it at all!"

"No, it's fine. I know. I have… issues, okay? I have issues. I don't like Spike. Never have, never will."

"Yeah."

"And you know that he stole my last girl from me, right? Well, okay, that's not quite how it happened, but…"

"What? I don't think I ever heard this story." And she had been working hard to try to reconstruct everything that had happened, to understand their history. She listened avidly to every single story, trying to get that full picture that she was always sure she must be missing.

"Geez. Yeah. Well, you met Anya. And you know how things were between her and me? She slept with Spike."

"Well."

"Granted, I already hated Spike by that point. A lot, not just a little. When I found out, I tried to kill him. I really did."

"Oh."

"Yeah. So if things seem a little strained between him and me… it's because they are."

"Ah. Right. It's always about the women with you two, isn't it?"

"Well, we're a lot alike, that way. If in no other way. I'll give him that. It's a laudable trait, wanting to protect the women in your life. Laudable. Of course, right up there with the protect he's got the stalk, and the _rape_."

Faith was very quiet for a long minute. "Well. You said that once before, didn't you? That bit about rape. And I didn't... I never made you explain it. But..."

"Well, because I didn't want to be seen as the one who was trying to push him away from you. That, and Buffy completely forgave him… forgave him!"

"I take it… she was the one he tried to rape?"

"Yeah."

"Did he?"

"What?"

"Succeed?"

"No. But only because she stopped him."

"Ah. And she slept with him, after that?"

"No. She slept with him before that. I don't know… god, I hope she didn't sleep with him after that!"

Faith was very quiet for a while, and Xander drove on in silence, his jaw clenched. Finally he couldn't take the silence any more and spoke. "I know there's more to the story that Buffy just didn't want to tell us. I know that. And Spike certainly never said anything—he never considered himself part of the group. So I know there's a lot I don't know. And if you really want the truth you have to ask one of them."

"I hate rapists."

"I know."

"Did I ever tell you I was raped before I was called?"

"No. But I… I kind of thought so."

"Why? Is it obvious?"

"It was obvious that night when we ran into the guy trying to get the girl in his car, and you broke both his arms."

"Oh, yeah."

"I was… I liked it. That you hurt him. That you helped her. I mean, sure, sacred calling and all, but I'm not sure that… I'm not sure that falls under your sacred calling. That's more of something you do… Agh. I can't explain."

"No, I know. I get it." She let out a long sigh. "What a screwed-up bunch of losers we are. I can't imagine Spike… I mean, if there's one thing I know, it's that he tries to protect the women in his life. Even the vampire women in his life! He tried to get a soul for Drusilla because he had to try to save her. Had to. And he tried to… to Buffy! That's not just sick, it's stupid. She's the one woman who for sure can stop him."

"You forget, he was obsessed with her. I mean, I don't want to score any points in his favor, but when he was obsessed with Buffy… I think he may have even rejected Drusilla."

"You think?"

"Well, Buffy wasn't too clear on that episode either. I mean, yeah, we're friends. We're supposed to talk. But the really important stuff she walls off. I mean, everything with Spike was so personal for her."

"Well, yeah. You think she ever loved him?"

Xander snorted. "Buffy, love Spike? I don't think she was really allowing herself to be open and honest with anybody at that point. I mean, the first guy she goes out with, Angel, the first guy she sleeps with… he screwed her over so mightily that it poisoned everything from there on out. She never let Riley get close, and he was a good guy. She pushed him away, even though he loved her, because she wouldn't trust him. Can you have love without trust? I don't know. And then Spike… he worked so hard to make her trust him, and then he turned on her, just like every other guy she's ever known."

"So you're saying Buffy may have some trust issues."

"Yeah… like you might have some trust issues."

"Okay, point."

"Which is yet another reason you two never got on the greatest."

"Hey, we got on."

"Yeah, but you wouldn't trust each other, would you?"

"Well, that's how we are."

"Exactly."

* * *

Angel was sulking. There was no other possible word for what he was doing. Sure, he could try to write it off as brooding or thinking or some other pretty word, but he was really sulking.

He sat in the rear of the airplane, blocking the exit with his arm crossed, and glared up at Giles and Ethan, who were both backwards in their seats, watching him. The secretary he'd left alive was sitting in a far corner, sleeping.

And he was tied up.

That seemed to him to be a little excessive. If they were afraid of him, why not just hold crosses or eat garlic or something else? Why bother tying him up with ropes he could break through in a second?

He was glad he'd had the presence of mind to arrange a plan to get Faith so lost he couldn't find her. Sometimes when temptation came, you had to play dirty. He understood that.

Ergo, the ropes.

Still, he had flexed his muscles as they put the ropes on, and he knew he could break free. And if it came down to it and he totally lost control, he wasn't sure Faith and the baby would be safe from him anyway.

So he was tied up, and the secretary was sleeping.

It wasn't good for his peace of mind.

Giles hated him, which was good. That kind of hatred was important right now. That kind of hatred could keep them alive.

And when had the ropes been broken? Oh, right, just now. Well. That was interesting.

Faith was too loyal to him, ultimately. Just like she was to Spike. She didn't understand why he hated that loyalty to Spike so much. When you cared about a person like that, you couldn't kill them when they turned evil.

Unless you were Buffy, and could pull it off to save the world. Which had been a really major bummer at the time.

Faith had proved she couldn't do it, even putting herself at risk to save him with the Morpheus. Ultimately, he hated her friendship with Spike because it reminded him that she was too soft-hearted. And it would get her killed some day.

Probably today, come to think of it. When he went after her and killed her because she was a pregnant Slayer and just smelling a pregnant Slayer filled him with bloodlust.

"Stand away from that girl," ordered Giles.

Angel put his hand on the secretary's neck, turning his head slightly to face Giles. And when had he got all the way across the plane here, with the two of them still watching him? How fast was he moving without thinking now? "I'm trying to think, here, and you're not helping." He didn't remember hearing Giles tell him to stop before, but he had been lost in inner dialogue.

Giles was aiming a water pistol at him, a shiny pink thing. "This is loaded with holy water. It might not kill you, but we both know it would hurt."

"And I've got a cross!" said Ethan nervously, standing as far behind Giles as he could. "And I'm sure we can find a Slayer somewhere."

"A Slayer? The only vampire more deadly to Slayers than me isn't even a vampire any more. You guys know that."

Giles just snarled at him. "Come on, Angel. Just back away from that girl."

Angel began to laugh, and he could feel tears already forming in his eyes. That was ridiculous. He was a vampire. A bad, mean, evil vampire. Who was doing good now! He had to remind himself of that part. And the soul! The soul.

"Since when am I the bad guy?" he asked, angry now. "I fight all the time. I fight my own nature. I've been fighting it since before either of you were born!"

Ethan was muttered words to a spell now, under his breath, gesturing his hands esoterically. The other two ignored him, just glowering at each other.

"You're not a real hero," said Giles with contempt. "You were crushed to find out you wouldn't be properly rewarded for your work. You don't fight for the right reasons—and you're a monster."

"Monster?" Angel's face contorted, his human façade rippling and shifting, crunching slightly as his real face came out. "You want to see a monster, Giles?"

Ethan whirled, screaming a final word in Latin, and light blazed out of his hands, blasting Angel off his feet and into the wall. As he hit the wall it seemed to explode with light, and he flew right through it.

Giles blinked. "A transportation spell? How… awful. You've just foisted him off on an unsuspecting world."

Ethan chuckled. "Not so, not so. I knew you'd be worried about where he went, but I carefully constructed that very powerful and draining spell to send him to the place he least wants to be right now." A trickle of blood dripped down his upper lip. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to pass out now." He slid down to the floor bonelessly.

Giles didn't even try to catch him, or cushion his fall.

* * *

Xander stared at the vampire who'd just materialized out of thin air behind him. "Faith, when you were ordering food from the nice Chinese guys, did you order a side of vampire? Because you totally got him."

Faith slammed down the brakes, nearly losing control of the RV as she pulled it over. "Angel!" she yelled happily.

Angel was crouched on the floor, trying to get his bearings. When he heard her voice he looked up, a panicked look on his face.

"Don't worry, the sun just set," Xander assured him. "Why the big magic whammy-jammy? Needed to get out here in a hurry?"

"Actually, I think this is the last place I needed to be," growled Angel. He was in game face, and he could smell them both so sharply, so clearly.

They smelled like dinner.

Faith put the RV's parking brakes on, and shrugged out of her seat belt. "Well, come on, big guy, do I get a hug?"

His lips twisted into a cruel smirk.


	8. Hatred

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel and Xander try to save a girl from her past while Faith tries to deal with the biggest challenge of her life. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 8: Hatred

* * *

Faith took a surprised step back, staring at her friend. "Angel… what gives?"

He threw his arms up in the air. "What gives? What gives, she asks? I have been having the crummiest day. You know what the best part is? I really can't seem to stop doing things I don't want to! Like slaughtering a whole base full of humans—or wanting to eat you right up."

Xander was apparently thinking faster than her right now, because while she was still stopping to think about that Xander was scrambling for his holy supersoaker.

Of course, all Angel had to do was punch the side of the RV, making it rock, and Xander slipped and fell to the floor. It was predictable, and trite.

Angel laughed, an angry, sarcastic laugh. "And he doesn't even trust me long enough to hear me out. Typical!"

"It's because I'm pregnant, right?" asked Faith, curling her hands into fists. "Pregnant Slayer. I wonder if it has the same effect on other vampires? If it does, we need to warn the rest of the girls."

"What, you're not scared?" asked Angel. "Not even a little?"

"I've done this dance."

"You and a boatload of drugs! Unless you've been toking pretty hard, maybe it'll go differently this time."

"I trust you."

That hit him hard. His entire face seemed to sag with hurt, and he closed his eyes, squeezing them shut as if trying to block her words. "I sent you away where I couldn't find you so you would be safe from me. You know that, right? I couldn't bear to hurt you, and I didn't think I could control myself. This is all wrong."

"I trust you."

The sharp pain on his face only increased. "Lots of people have trusted me," he said, sagging against the wall. "Buffy trusted me. Spike trusted me. Fred. Wes. Gunn. Cordy. They all ended up paying for it. Every time I try, I fail."

"That happens. You've just got to pick up and keep going."

Xander climbed to his feet very, very slowly. "Wait, wait. When did Spike ever pay for your mistakes? Because that sounds like a funny, funny story."

Angel's face slid slowly back into human form. "That's what I thought," he grumbled. "Stupid idiot had to go and steal the one thing I'd been hoping for then. Just to spite me. I got him killed, and he came back and saved my life. Have I mentioned how devastatingly ironic my life is?"

Faith moved closer to Angel, sitting down on the couch that also doubled as their bed. "Angel… how are you?"

"I just told you." He put a hand over his face.

"I heard that bit. About how you've been kicked around. I didn't ask how life is treating you. I asked you how you are."

He let out a long sigh. "Incredibly disappointed in myself? I'm the Champion of goodness, light, and all that great stuff, and here I am killing innocent people again."

Xander moved back into the passenger seat, quietly taking out his cell phone and speed-dialing. He didn't say anything, just waiting for Faith to handle it.

Angel looked up at the ceiling, and there was self-loathing all over his face. "I've fought the darkness in me for so long that I'm not sure any more that I'd know if I had already lost. I've faced it, fought it, lost to it, won against it, and lost again. God!"

"You've taught me a lot of things," said Faith, her voice a raspy whisper. "Most importantly, you taught me how to pick up and move on after doing wrong."

He sniffed, rubbing his nose. "I always had a weakness for babies."

"Angel, snap out of it!"

He shifted into game face quickly, and lunged forward, grabbing her arm. "Snap out of it? Is that the accumulated wisdom I've given you? Do I look like a flaming retard!"

Xander attacked, stake in hand, and a furious expression on his face. Angel backhanded him away easily.

"Go ahead, say it," hissed Angel, leaning closer to Faith. "Say it. 'I hate you.' Say it."

She lifted her chin. "You really want a bite that bad? Then take it."

"What?"

"Dammit, Angel! What, you thought I was kidding or suicidal before, when I took the drugs and let you bite me? I meant it then, and I meant it now. You're more important than me—always have been. At least to me. Everybody else can follow Buffy and do whatever, but you know you've always been my friend. And if my blood is what you need so bad, then take it."

He shoved her away from him, hard, sending her spinning through the air and slamming into a distant wall. "You stupid little…! Agh!" He clutched his head, standing up and kicking the door open. "I can't believe you'd make that kind of offer. Can't believe it!"

Faith leaned against the wall, coughing up blood. "Can't? Or won't?" she asked weakly.

"You have no idea how close I am to taking that offer!"

"Don't care. If I've got to die, it'll be here and at your hand, and not for nothing. Never for nothing."

"And what about your baby and Xander? Don't you care about them? Not even just a little?"

She just glared at him. "Don't you?"

He lunged for her, an angry look on his face. Xander, who'd been rooting around in the shadows, met him halfway, slamming into him and trying to stab a stake into his chest. Angel turned, throwing Xander away and through the wall. He followed Xander, growling.

Faith kicked Angel in the back, sending him sprawling. "But don't touch Xander!"

Angel stumbled down onto the ground, turning to squint into the distant red glow of the sunset. "Don't touch Xander. Right. I'll remember that for later."

He didn't even look back at Faith, just jogging off into the distance, limping heavily in his right leg.

Xander stood up slowly and shakily. "I know you trust him and all that garbage, but can we not do that again? It was an awful lot like a fight."

Faith shrugged, wiping blood off her upper lip. "You'll appreciate my loving and gentle approach when you finally turn evil and try to kill me."

"Hey!"

"If life has taught me anything, it's that all men do that eventually. Deal."

* * *

--Somewhere over Nebraska—

Ethan and Giles were in the middle of a staring contest when the pilot joined them, striding in from the cockpit. "Guys, the general is on the radio. He says he has somebody from Slayer headquarters who wants to talk to Giles."

Giles stood up. "I see. Is there anywhere I can take the call?"

The soldier motioned at an intercom on the wall. "It's not exactly private, but it's what we have."

Giles eyed Ethan. "It's all right. I'm sure that he won't be making any trouble."

Ethan shrugged. "Trouble? My middle name, you know."

The pilot pressed a button on the intercom. "It's a radio, so you have to press this button to send. Remember to say over at the end of your sentences."

Giles rolled his eyes, but at least waited until the pilot's back was turned. Ethan turned to the secretary, who was watching Giles closely.

"Don't be fooled by his act. He is not, in fact, a young and dashing hero. He is an old, balding, thickening man who is stuffy, uptight, and is currently living in a house with twenty pre-pubescent girls."

Giles rolled his eyes. "I'll have you know that… no, never mind. Not helping my case." He pressed the button. "This is Giles. Over."

"Oh, Giles! It's Buffy. Um." There was a long pause. "Over."

"I assume you had some reason for contacting me. Over."

"Well, yeah. Um. Things have gone kind of crazy over here. And I just got off the phone with Xander, and they sound crazier where he is. Has Angelus returned?" He waited a full minute before she remembered and mumbled 'over.'

"I'm honestly not sure. At the very least, Angel appears to be having some… problems. Over."

"Problems. Right. I've sent out an alert to our… allies. Giles, we have allies now!" Her turn of phrase made Ethan smirk. "And they're all guys I've slept—er… dated!"

Giles waited for her to say over. When it became apparent she wouldn't he pressed the button. "Um, Buffy, was there anything else?"

"Oh, no. That about covers it."

"Great. We're going to head for the nearest branch of Wolfram and Hart. We have reason to believe Angel may be there." He shot a glare at Ethan, who shrugged. "Over."

"Uh? Didn't you hear me say he was just with Faith and Xander?"

"How did he… where were they? Over."

"They didn't say. Apparently he just appeared in the camper with them."

Giles took off his glasses and began rubbing his forehead. "He… appeared… I don't even want to think about what that says about his frame of mind. Isn't he supposed to be her friend? No, no, I don't want an answer. Shut up Ethan."

Ethan clamped his shut.

"Ethan?" asked Buffy suspiciously.

"Er, he's here. We had to spring him out of prison to get this far. By we I mean Angel, not me. Angel already had him when he got to me."

"Oh."

"Right. Over."

"Giles! We have some other, more serious, problems. Dawn has scrambled most of our allies to help with our Spike situation. I can spare about a half dozen Slayers for Angel. How's that?"

"I was hoping to speak to Dawn. Over."

"She's not responding right now. I think she's in trouble. And I was about to go out and kick some butt. In a protective manner. Okay?"

"Yes, go. Over."

"Over and out."

He sighed, stepping away. Ethan was glowering at him, but it looked more thoughtful than evil. "What?" snapped Giles.

Ethan glanced at the secretary, then back to Giles. "The timing is convenient, isn't it? I suspect that my previous employer may have had a few strings to whoever is orchestrating the other chaos going on right now."

"Even if that's true, what can we do about it?"

Ethan smiled. "Well, since I'm apparently going to have to help you or suffer massive pain, I was thinking of something… chaotic."

Giles rolled his eyes. "Again with the chaos."

* * *

Angel knew that at any time he could turn around, backtrack, find Faith's scent, track her down and kill her.

That thought drove him to run away from her, as fast as he could.

He'd stolen a car, for that purpose. This was evil, he knew, but on the evil chart it was far, far below killing Faith and drinking her blood. So he was calling it 'okay' for now.

He'd hurt her. He had seen the pain in her eyes when she had bounced off that wall, when she'd been picking herself up, and it had filled him with equal parts self-loathing and desire.

So he had to run.

* * *

Nina stretched her arm out to full length, examining it. There was no hair on it, but she was hairless even as a werewolf, for some reason nobody had ever fully explained to her.

But she could see muscles in her arm, hard, strong muscles. Muscles that weren't there most of time. Muscles that could tear a man in half.

She couldn't keep herself from whimpering.

She had taken to locking herself up every night, but it didn't feel like enough any more. Every day the wolf came out a little bit more. Every day it was there, with her, no matter where the moon was.

It hadn't started that way, but it was definitely getting there.

The wolf was taking her over. One single step at a time. The meditation had helped. The tattoos had helped. But she wasn't there yet. She wasn't in control. And now the wolf was getting ready to boil out of her skin.

She knew what she had to do. Lock the door and toss the keys across the room. Trap herself here, in this cage, until she was under control again.

But she didn't have the time right now. She needed to get out of the cage, find Angel, and figure out how to save him. She needed to protect the Rayne girl. She needed to figure out how to stop the doomsday cult after Faith. She needed to help figure out what was going on with Spike and Connor.

So much going wrong, and she couldn't even trust herself.

* * *

"Sir? They're read for you."

The attendant's words brought Lindsey back to reality jarringly fast. He grimaced and stood up. "Time to face the music."

Cordelia was waiting for him at the door. She scowled at him as he entered, closing the door behind him.

It looked to Lindsey like one of Wolfram and Hart's offices. He was pretty sure, though, that it was just an illusion. He blinked, peering through the illusion, and saw that it was an exact replica of Angel's original office, complete with filing strewn all over.

"Oh, Cordelia," he said reproachfully. He hated these meetings with her. She was a terrific boss, as long as you didn't hold any grudges about who killed whom in the last life. Which he did.

She sat down next to her partner. "I've seen your offices, mister-I'm-such-a-hot-shot-lawyer, and you're one to talk about nostalgia."

Her partner, a demon who looked more like a porcupine, just grinned. He'd never spoken to Lindsey, for some reason. Lindsey wasn't quite sure why, but suspected that the explanation would make his incorporeal head hurt, so he didn't ask.

"So, what's up?" he asked.

"Our number one Champion is going around the bend again," noted Cordelia. "I rushed right in from our program upstairs when I heard that. Personal interest, you know. And… well, frankly, I thought you would have done something by now. Being our liaison, and all."

Lindsey swept his hands down his sides nervously. "Darlin, you know I love Angel to death, but the rulebook you gave me says I'm not to interfere. No interfering. That's what it says."

"Actually, it doesn't. You've just interpreted it that way, like a typical lawyer. It says no changing things. Going down and asking him what he thinks he's doing isn't changing anything."

"You promised I wouldn't have to talk to him any more." Lindsey crossed his arms defensively. "Just once, and then I could handle him from the office. If we have to deal with him, then I want an assistant in charge of going down there and talking to him for me. Okay?"

Cordelia sighed, rubbing her temples. "Sometimes, Lindsey, I wonder about you… All this for redemption, a big old attempt at redeeming yourself, and you still can't quite bring yourself to do just a little more."

"What?"

"I put you in charge of the whole planet and you don't even blink. You work hard, you win for us most of the time, and you even manage to take time to go all stalkerish on your sister."

"I just want to keep an eye on her, you know?"

"Yeah, whatever. But the one little meeting I keep pressing you for never happens. You never go see your Champion. He's the one person on earth who can influence things the way you want them! The only way you can get any work done! And what do you do? You go out of your way to not talk to him. You don't send visions his way. Not good, Linds. Not good."

"In my defense…"

"Don't you dare get all lawyerly on me again! I'm sick of that! You get your butt down there and chat with him."

"The man had me killed!"

"Yeah? Them's the breaks."

She banished him with a wave of his hand, and he was back in his office. His cold, impersonal office.

He sat down in his seat and let out a long, slow sigh. "Well, Angel. I guess it's time we had a heart-to-heart."

But he grinned like a shark as he said it.


	9. Vitriole

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel and Xander try to save a girl from her past while Faith tries to deal with the biggest challenge of her life. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 9: Vitriole

* * *

Lindsey found Angel easily enough. Angel was, technically, Lindsey's representative in this plane, his tool for doing work here. And they both worked for a higher power.

Although thinking of Cordelia as a higher power was enough to make him cry.

Lindsey appeared silently beside the vampire. "Angel."

"Lindsey." Angel's moan sounded almost relieved, which made Lindsey clamp his jaw down and grit his non-existent teeth so hard that he was pretty sure he was going to need a non-existent dentist.

"So, you've been buggering things up pretty badly here. My superiors came down hard on me, wanted me to come down, give you a little pep talk."

"I could use a pep talk."

"Why are we driving so fast? Speed limits, you know. The law, and all that. Don't you uphold it?"

"No, not really. Can we get on with the pep talk part of the day? I'm kind of looking forward to that, really. A lot."

"Oh, right. Um. You're a lousy Champion. We should have kept Spike on in the job; he did a lot better."

Angel growled. "This is a pep talk?"

Lindsey smirked, running his hands through his hair. "Well, here's the thing. I don't like you, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah. Cry me a river. What do you want, then?"

"A good performance review?"

"Sucks to be you. I nearly bit my best friend in this world a minute ago. And she's the person who's always been able to get under my skin… even when I didn't have a soul, she got closer than anybody else. Of course, that time I nearly killed her."

"Yeah, I know, I saw. Look, Angel, buddy, friend. Helper of the helpless, defender of the defenseless, dark avenger and protector of the night. You suck."

Angel rolled his eyes. "I'd forgotten how fun these conversations with you could be."

"You're the champion of light and goodness, remember! We have a world-ending apocalypse cult trying to get their hands on the most powerful baby ever born, one with the power to end the world. We've got a conspiracy to destroy the Slayers—although from the looks of it your pal Spike has that well in hand. And on top of all that, we have a minor apocalypse going down in your back yard! By which I mean the ruined city of LA. You got that, right? Your bed-buddy Nina has been trying to contain that, but it's getting worse."

Angel nodded. "Okay. This is perfect. You're giving me direction, right?"

"Well, mostly I'm just here to make fun of you."

"Shut up. I'm going to LA, and I'm going to help Nina. That's what I'm going to do."

"While you're there, can you maybe stop and check up on a few things."

"I'm not your messenger boy."

"Actual, the really funny twist here is… you are! Funny, huh?"

"Shut up, Lindsey."

The formerly evil lawyer sat there stewing for a minute. "You know, this whole redemption gig isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"That's because you're doing it for all the wrong reasons. You're asking for redemption because you want to avoid damnation. You're trying to buy your way into the rewards of goodness."

"Oh, you mean like fighting evil just so I could be turned human again? That kind of fight?"

"That's exactly what I mean."

Lindsey drooped at the dispirited defense. "Aw, you're not even trying."

Angel gave the spirit a withering glare. "No kidding. Isn't that what you came down here to tell me? That I'm not trying? You're a sick joke. We don't fight because it's easy, fun, or for the rewards. We do it because it needs doing. Because the world needs a hero. Because it's right!"

Lindsey grinned. "Well, my job here is done." He vanished.

It hadn't been his plan to use reverse psychology to show Angel exactly what he looked like right now, but he was willing to go with what worked. Hopefully that would put Angel on the right path.

Angel, for his part, snarled with fury, his bloodlust rising even further.

* * *

"Let's review," said Xander. He was angry, and it was showing in his voice. Faith cringed back. She hated arguing with Xander. Even when she won she ended up feeling crappy about it. Like she had kicked a puppy.

"Let's not. I'm having enough troubles."

"Angel is right now the only person who could track us down and give away our position to those wackos trying to steal our baby. Angel is right now in the frame of mind to eat said baby. And me. And probably you. So, our plan is… to hunt Angel down?"

She rolled her eyes. "Because Angel is my friend? Hey, do I ever complain when we have our annual get-togethers and save Buffy! No!"

He thought about it. "Sadly, I see your point."

"See, this is what friends do. When your friends start going nuts and killing people, we do an intervention."

"Sadly, this has happened before."

"Buffy memories?"

"Willow memories, actually."

"Ah-hah! Uh… what?" It took her a minute to remember Willow telling her about having done evil, oh so briefly, before they got thrown into the battle with the First Evil. At the time she hadn't taken it very seriously. But she could see that he had.

"Never mind. Okay, so I can see where this is giving us a problem."

"Yeah."

Xander was pouting, which was just adorable, as far as Faith was concerned. She knew other people might have used less charitable terms like whiny and annoying, but it was a little easier to overlook when he doted on you.

"If the world is ending, you need your friends," he said finally. "This whole run and hide plan was fine if we were going to stick to it. If we're not, then we need a whole new plan. One that doesn't suck."

"Right. Okay. You get on that."

"Okay."

"Xander, why are you smirking?"

"Huh? Oh, I have a plan. And in involves public humiliation for Spike."

"And that helps how?"

"You're just going to have to trust me on that." He smiled, though, letting her know he wasn't entirely serious. She rolled her eyes.

"You don't get to make the plans any more."

* * *

Nina was sitting at her desk gritting her teeth and crossing her legs and trying to hold the wolf in like a bad case of gas when Harmony came strutting in through her door. And that was it, as fast as that. She knew Harmony had betrayed Angel once before, and she had never liked the vampire.

She stood up, feeling her skin tightening. "Harmony! What do you want?" Her voice was a growl, a snarl, the wolf in full.

Harmony stared at her for a second. "Well, I was here to see your boyfriend. Did he beat me here? Can I use your phone?"

"Shut up!"

Harmony rolled her eyes. "Yeah, what-ever. Phone, now, or you're going to see just how dangerous I am."

Nina's rage was overwhelming. "Spike… had you chipped. You can't hurt humans."

"Actually, the chip hasn't really been a factor for months. And it's not really on right now. And you're not really a human, are you?" Harmony smiled smugly. "That's right, girl, if you want it, come and get it!"

Nina lunged forward, feeling the predator's muscles already hardening, ready to kill.

Harmony backhanded her in the face at the last second, dropping her to the floor. The sudden pain in her nose brought her back to reality with a jolt. "Oh, god."

"Yeah, yeah," snorted Harmony, stepping over her and picking the phone up, dialing quickly. "Hey, it's me. He's not here. What does the tracking thingie say? Oh, how soon? Okay, I'll wait."

There was a clicking sound, like the phone being set back down, and Nina rolled over and sat up, pulling her knees up to her chest. She wasn't sure she wanted to apologize, since she didn't like Harmony, and Harmony had no soul. But she figured she ought to. What could she say? _Sorry I'm a blood-thirsty monster like you?_ But then Harmony spoke first, anyway. "So, how are you?"

"Uh, fine. I'm—"

"I'm really sorry I had to hit you, but you had a little werewolf showing. I thought it might clear your head."

"Um, yeah."

Harmony sat down on the edge of Nina's desk. "So, there's this whole thing going on. With your boyfriend. Did you know that pregnant women are a really, really strong temptation to our kind? Yeah. I can't go near kids, they drive me wild. And Slayer, too. Add those together, and it's going to be too much. And we just heard from Xander; Angel attacked Faith."

Nina couldn't beleive it for a minute, but then she remembered lunging at Harmony, nails and hands turning to claws and paws, and she coudln't deny anything.

"So Spike sent me to keep an eye on him."

"Spike sent you."

"Yeah."

"And how's Spike doing?" It was only polite to ask, even though she didn't really care. While she didn't hold anything against Spike it was hard to take his side when Angel loathed him so hard.

Harmony sighed, putting both hands over her face. "Oh, my god. I don't even want to… he moved on! With a Slayer! I can't even begin to sum up how wrong it is, or how much it hurts me. And, at the same time, he's trying to be sensitive and not to rub my face in it and to show me… to … you don't care, huh?"

"Sorry."

"Eh. I should be used to it. So. Werewolf troubles? I didn't think it was that time of month."

"It isn't."

"Oh. I see. Well, if it helps any, I've been told that there are chants and meditations—"

"They're not helping."

"Well, of course not."

"Huh?"

"You have to be emotionally centered for that, and I can tell you aren't. It's right there on your face."

"What?" This was not right. Harmony was the shallow vampire, the one who obsessed over Spike's abs. She was not a serious source of information or a friend in any way. She was not wise. She was not...

"How're things with Angel?" asked Harmony innocently, a bit too innocently. She was dead-on, of course.

That made Nina's teeth sharpen up nicely. She glared at the vampire, not saying anything, and Harmony smiled, that having been all the answer she needed.

"Okay. Maybe you need to talk to your boyfriend… and here he is!"

Angel stalked inside, slamming the door behind him. He was scowling, and it was the brooding scowl, the one Nina hated so much. "Harmony. Is Spike here?"

"No, he's cleaning up elsewhere. I'm here to make sure you don't go for any humans and their throats. Like Jiminy Cricket, only a vampire!"

He glared at her. "Oh, now I need Spike's help? He was even worse at the Champion gig than I was. Worse at being a vampire with a soul. Only second best."

Harmony flinched. "Well, anger issues. Expected. Still hurts."

Angel turned away, angry. Nina stood up slowly. "Angel, are you okay?"

"No. I need a minute."

She smiled. "What you need is a shower. Come on, let's get back up to the apartment."

"I'll wait here," said Harmony. "I have some… phone calls to make."

* * *

Angel stared at the shower for a second, tugging on his collar. "I nearly killed Faith."

"Okay. I bet she deserved it." Nina ran a hand down her back, scraping her nails against the surface of his shirt, hard. Instead of flinching he exhaled hard, almost sighing.

"No, she didn't. The demon in me is strong, too strong. I can't help it."

Her hand wandered a little lower, and maybe her claws were pressing into him a little harder. She leaned into him, raising herself up on tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips. "Hmm."

He kissed her back, whirling her around so that her hand was yanked from his lower back, slamming her against the wall. His kiss was rough and wild, and dangerous. She could feel him shifting into game face, the vampire coming to the fore, and she gasp as he bit down on her lip, drawing blood.

She could feel his shirt tearing under her hands, her legs wrapped around his waist suddenly. Then she pushed off from the wall with enough strength to send them both slamming down into the floor.

* * *

Spike found Faith and Xander the old fashioned way.

Which is to say that he out-thought them and was waiting for them at the outskirts of LA, near one of Faith's favorite haunts, smirking. The smirk didn't fade as the RV slowed to a stop inches from him.

"I hate him so!" hissed Xander, while Faith grinned, opening the door of the RV and jumping down.

"Looking for me, Spike?" she asked saucily, striking a pose.

He shrugged. "I hear grandpa couldn't keep his hands to himself, and you kicked him in the balls. Issat true?"

She frowned, shaking her head. "No… it's not." The lie was so obvious in her voice that it made her ashamed.

"Huh. I guess I owe somebody ten bucks, then. Right. So, you're pregnant, then? Congratulations, you've got yourself a whiny brat who'll need saving every five minutes. And how on earth did a git like Xander manage to knock you up? I guess it really doesn't have anything to do with masculinity."

Xander got out of the RV and slunk over, glaring at Spike. "Hey, ex-evil ex-dead."

"Git. Anyway, so far our plan for handling Angel has involved me hitting him while Illyria and Dana try to stop me."

The dark, crazy Slayer was inside with the blue-haired demon goddess, noticed Faith. They appeared to be having an animated conversation. There was arm-waving. Neither of them noticed that Spike was talking about hitting Angel, which would usually be their cue to jump out and pull him back into line.

Xander sighed. "I can help with the hitting him part."

"I'll help with the other part!" said Faith, just a tad too brightly. "And I can take you both."

Spike shrugged. "Come on into the club, have a drink. We'll talk about it. Nice leather pants, by the way."

Faith shrugged. "I try."

"You know that now that you're pregnant you'll be swelling up like a whale now, right? Oh, don't look at me that way. It's more his fault than mine."

Xander snorted, putting an arm around Faith's shoulders. Which made her tense, as usual. She had some touch issues. "Spike. I hate you like the big brother I never had and am thankful I never had. But you should know. Fat jokes are strictly banned."

Faith chuckled. "Good on you, Xand."

"And no drinking," said Spike, still grinning.

Faith's grin evaporated.

* * *

Angel woke up when the sun peeked through the curtains and burned a square patch on his back. He rolled over, flipping Nina up on top of him to shield him from the sun, and groaned as his torn and now burned flesh hit the floor.

It took him a minute to reorient himself.

He could smell blood everywhere. Some of it was his, but a lot was Nina's. He felt a twinge of guilt, but a larger one of arousal.

Nina stirred and groaned, a low, satisfied sound.

It took him a second to realize just how happy he was. If his soul still had a happiness clause he definitely would have already lost it. That gave him just another reason to hate Spike.

He could barely remember what had happened. He remembered attacking Nina, biting her. He remembered her biting him. Teeth and claws and blood, blood everywhere.

It was a vampire's idea of paradise.

She nuzzled his throat sleepily. "Hey."

"Hey," he said, trying to keep his tone light.

"Ugh. That was… that was exactly what I needed."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

He didn't know whether to be horrified or terrified. Or turned on immensely. He shifted, sitting up. She wrapped herself around him more tightly, igniting pain along all his new wounds.

He swallowed. "The monster in me is clawing its way to the surface."

"Mm. Me too."

"I kind of don't know what to do about it."

"Well, Spike's in town to help you out. Maybe he does."

"Yeah, taking help from Spike would be my least favorite thing to do. Just a little worse than a hundred years in hell. And, I've done both. I know."

"It'll be okay. I'm sure he's mellowed. And I hear he's dating a Slayer now."

"Dating a Slayer is the opposite of mellow. That's a step back to evil for Spike."

"Ha."

He ran a hand through her hair. He hadn't felt this good, this happy, in years. He was scaring himself now. "You know, I'm glad you're taking this so well." But he wasn't; he was scared at how well she was taking this.

"Yeah, ditto." And she was scared too, underneath the monster. He could see it in her eyes.

* * *

Lindsey found Cordelia snooping in his office, and he sighed, opening the door and slamming it behind him. "Don't trust me?"

"No, not really. But that's not why I'm going through your stuff."

"Oh?"

She pointed to a folder on his desk, continuing to go through his very lawyer-like filing system. "Memo from a friend. Apparently the bad guys have been planning something and managed to slip it under your nose."

"I see." He crossed to the desk and opened up the folder. "So, what about the Angel situation?"

"Never mind that. I'll take charge of that personally for now. I want you on this problem full time."

He smirked as he read it. "Ah, dear old Wolfram and Hart. Dead, dying, and completely exhausted, and still out to make Angel's life hell."

"You can laugh now, but they're going to make your life hell too."

"Well, yeah. My fate being inextricably linked to his and all that. Have I mentioned how much I hate him?"


	10. Blood rising

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith tries to deal with the biggest challenge of her life. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 10: The beginning of the end

* * *

The bar was seedy, rough, and loud, just the way Faith liked her bars. Xander, however, looked terribly out of place, like a yokel, or a hick, or a good person.

She hated making him feel uneasy.

She climbed into his lap when they sat down in the booth, grinning lasciviously. It made him a little more uncomfortable, but it certainly distracted him. "So, what's the deal, Spike?"

Spike sat down in other side of the booth, between Illyria and Dana. "Well, there's a mental image I didn't need. Thanks, love."

"I said, what's the deal?" She didn't have the patience to deal with Spike's snarks right now. Especially if he was going to be mean to Xander. She could get very unhappy with people who were mean to Xander. She took it personally. Even if he was her friend, or something like it; it still made her mad.

Spike grinned, a nasty grin. "Well, you know the details, I'd imagine. Angel is going nuts for some good blood. Your blood, specifically. Few control issues. Somebody likes that, and may even have planned it. Oh, and your pregnancy is an epic thing that may bring about the end of the world."

"Oh. And you have a plan?"

"Yeah."

Illyria sighed, tossing her hair. "By 'plan' he means he wants to stay by your side and protect you throughout your pregnancy." She was apparently just as impatient with Spike's attempts at secrecy.

"Hey, I'm a Slayer! I don't need protecting!"

Dana was examining Spike's hair but stopped when Faith said that, turning to face the other Slayer. "It'll make him feel better. And Illyria and I can help out if anything big happens."

Faith was slightly mollified by her words, and her sincere tone, but was bothered by that. After all, this was the crazy Slayer, wasn't it? "Since when are you the voice of reason?"

Dana shrugged. "I try."

Spike grinned, pulling her into a one-armed hug. She tensed up a little bit, but put her arm around his neck. Xander made a slight gagging noise. Faith, for her part, just grinned like a predator and leaned on the table, putting her elbows down. "Aw, is ickle Spikey in wuv?"

Spike scowled at her. "Those sitting on glass Xander-laps shouldn't throw stones."

She tried to think of some way to make a dirty pun out of that, but was stumped for just a second, long enough for Xander to clear his throat and change the topic of conversation to something a little lighter. "So, prophecies are saying, what, end of the world? How's my bun in the oven supposed to do that?"

Spike shrugged, which usually meant he was about to lie like a rug. "Well, the prophets are notoriously short on details. In this particular case there's more than a passing mention of Slayer powers, but I suspect that it's more than that. Especially in light of the baby's mother having been present during a spell that empowered all the Potential Slayers in the world."

Dana winced. "I don't like that spell."

Faith gave her a funny look, but Xander pressed on. "So the baby might have the power of a million Slayers?"

"Or the essence of Red, just for fun. Besides that, there was a ton of black First-magic floating around. And eyepatch-boy, for all his normality, has been exposed to quite a bit of magic over the years. Spirit-melding, body-tampering, brain-tampering, even a bit of getting kicked around by Red, if my memory serves."

"Ouch. Yeah."

"So between the two of you the baby is inheriting a very, very hard to track pile of possible power sources, and most of them are dark, dark, dark. I have my people working on researching the whole thing… although it's probably not going to be very positive, whatever the outcome."

Illyria finally stirred, glaring at Dana. "That's not nice."

"It's true!" protested Dana.

Faith raised an eyebrow. "What was that? What's not nice, but true?"

Spike sighed. "They share a deep psychic bond now, giving Dana access to Illyria's powers. And they pass snarky comments around on the sly, never letting us blokes in."

That wasn't how Faith remembered things. In fact, to the best of her memory it had been Spike who had shared that fundamental bond with the hell-goddess, Spike who had been able to keep her from turning evil again. "Don't you do that?"

"Not any more."

Faith stared at them, her forehead wrinkling. There was something about what he had just said that seemed dangerous, ill-timed, and stupid. But she was having trouble putting her finger on it. It was probably part of the insanity that he had gone through with the other Slayers, but she didn't want to open that Pandora's box, didn't want to hear all that.

And Xander changed the subject again before she could figure it out. He was too busy being concerned with the bigger picture instead of focusing on what was going on in their friends' lives. "So you're here. I thought you had a plan to help Angel."

"Yeah, I put that into effect about four years ago," said Spike, checking his watch. "So, no worries. Oh, by the way, Harmony joined the ranks of the souled vampires last week." He dropped that bomb into the conversation so casually it took Faith a moment to understand what he was saying, to connect the bubble-headed blond and the word _soul._

"What? Doesn't that blow Angel's Champion thing to pieces?"

"Not so much. He fulfilled the Cup of Perpetual Torment thing when he went to hell the second time. He's vested, now. Although there's this whole thing with your daughter he still has to keep from branching… but, really, that's a problem for another day."

"Why?" asked Faith, feeling a little tense. She didn't like discussing vampires and souls. She didn't like prophecies. And she especially didn't like how casual Spike was about all of it, as if he was discussing something no more important than their plans for dinner. This was important stuff.

"Why is that a problem for another day? Well, because we have some more immediate threats to Angel popping up that I'm trying to track down."

"No, I mean why did Harmony get a soul. She was all, yay, good guy, no soul." Which made Faith very uncomfortable. Despite Spike's relative goodness now, she understood that even chipped he had been pretty bad with no soul. Even trying to rape Buffy. So she didn't really believe the chips were very effective.

"Well, there was this whole thing where she drank my blood and enjoyed it and realized that eventually she's going to betray me because without a soul she's not capable of truly being on my side. Which, it turns out, was really an epiphany Angel was trying to pound into her. So we dropped a soul in, and she got her brood on. Well, not really. She was busy at that point organizing my latest acquisition and setting up our shady conspiracy to tranq Angel up and try to keep him away from you."

"That's your plan for dealing with Angel?" Faith nearly went up over the table as the anger kicked in. Spike might be a friend, but she was well used to dealing with a group of friends who all hated each other, and she was going to take Angel's side over Spike's, every time.

"No, relax." He didn't even tense up as she moved to attack him, but Dana did, tensing in a very protective way that made Faith back right down. She might hit a vampire or a vampires-turned-human, even the occasional human, but she never hit her fellow Slayers any more. That just led to badness. "That's my backup plan. Plan B, if you will. That's just in place in case Connor can't talk him down. Which is Plan A. I would have gone and done it myself, except I really would have tried to get him to blow a fuse just so I could see them tranq him… hilarious… and I wanted to be here."

"Oh."

Spike smiled, and this one was a smile without his usual malice. "Well, it was actually Harmony who said I couldn't be the one to talk him down. She wanted to try and bring him in without shooting him. She's soft that way."

Dana poked him in the ribs, and he squirmed.

"Aw, they're a cute couple," said Xander sarcastically.

Faith poked him in the ribs. Even if she had a firm policy about people being mean to Xander, she liked it even less when he was mean. And so she took any actions necessary to nip any mean or bitter actions in the bud.

Even if that meant hitting him a little bit.

* * *

Harmony heard the noises start again upstairs and sighed. "Vampires and werewolves. That is so nineties."

"Actually, that movie first came out in the year oh-three," grumbled her companion.

"What?"

"Oh, never mind." Connor was more than used to everything he said floating over Harmony's head; he wasn't even going to try and explain anything to her any more. Not if he didn't have to. Instead he tried to concentrate on the stuff in Nina's desk that he was rifling through.

Harmony smiled at Connor. "So, this must be weird for you. Your dad up there having loud and noisy sex. Does it give you a complex?"

"Eh, it's not too bad."

"Huh?"

"Consider that in our short history he's had to watch me have sex with the woman he loved, and I had to… no, I guess that's it. The squick factor pretty much balances out eventually."

"Er… sure."

Connor rolled a stake over his knuckles, making it dance. "Besides, I can't really let him leave without talking to him." Nina didn't have anything remotely interesting in her files. Just piles and piles of stuff. That he was desperately going through his father's girlfriend's things looking for clues was a sign of how desperate he was getting. He hoped Spike knew more than he was letting on, this time. Things were starting to look scary.

Harmony smirked. "Right. Talking. With your fists."

"Um, no, that's plan B. I still plan to just talk to him."

"With tranquilizer darts."

"No, with…ah, forget it."

* * *

Xander had strong, strong objections to having Spike and his 'harem' along, which just amused Spike while making Faith angry, frustrated, and a little bit sad.

Illyria didn't mind the word harem, but Dana had issues with the inclusiveness. Because even though Illyria and Spike shared a deep, strong bond, Dana thought she had something stronger and deeper.

And Spike, overall, was acting pretty well drunk by the time they left the bar. Although Xander suspected that might be a put-on, since he hadn't ordered more than one beer that Xander had seen.

All these combined with the closed quarters of the RV to make for a very tense night.

Faith lay on top of the covers on the bed beside Xander, just staring at the ceiling. Xander was lying on his side, facing away from her, stewing.

She hated it when they argued. It wasn't even like the makeup sex was any good. What with all the crying and general moodiness.

Xander sighed. "Spike's banging a new Slayer. He's either going back to evil, or about to get his heart torn out. This is really like being in heaven. I can't decide which one would be more fun."

"Spike's a normal human now, just like you. Play nice."

"I don't play nice with Spike."

She didn't want to answer that. "Do you think I'll make a good mom?"

He sighed. "I just knew that would come up eventually, after the crying was all done."

"Hey."

He rolled over to face her and draped one arm over her stomach. "Faith, I don't know if you noticed, but the only good mother I ever knew was Buffy's mom."

"Me too."

"Good, gives us a common frame of reference. Now, do you think you could possibly try to be as good a mom as her? Because that would probably be the best job anybody could possibly do. I'll get you some WWJD bracelets. What would Joyce do, right? And if you fall short, just remember, we both had screwed up parents, and we ended up okay, right? So, at worst, we screw the kid up and they have an interesting life fighting demons."

"Oh."

"Unless, you know, we turn them evil and they destroy the world. That would suck."

"Yeah." Faith let out a long, ragged sigh. "And, yes, I am really worried about turning her evil. I turned evil!"

"So did Buffy, Angel, Spike, Willow, and even Harmony. There's just no cure for the evil, Faith. Good parents, bad parents, indifferent parents. Doesn't matter. People gotta have their evil."

"Oh."

"Yeah. So, just try to love the kid, nurture her, and treat her like a human being."

"Her? Since when is the kid a her?"

"Well, since I decided, of course. I made a command decision, being the man of the house. And if she goes against my decision, she pays the standard price."

"Huh?"

"The doctor will spank her when she's born."

"Oh. Uh…"

"Or him."

"Right."

"So, total punishment for disobeying the man of the house."

"Gonna spank me?"

"Um… have you been a naughty girl?"

* * *

Spike was trying to ignore the noises Faith and Xander were making, but when she started making girlish squealing noises he rolled his eyes and hopped up off the floor and headed out of the RV, grabbing his cell phone as he got out the door.

Dana and Illyria had both already left the RV and they were sitting on the ground a short distance away, staring up at the moon. He swaggered over and sat down behind them, opening the cell phone. "Hey, girls."

Dana smiled over her shoulder, but Illyria was icily silent. He dialed Connor's number, having to pause and think about it for a minute. He listened to the phone dialing and wished desperately that he still smoked.

"This is Connor." He sounded tinny and faint, and Spike smirked.

"Hey, kid. It's Spike."

"Spike. This is such a good time for a phone conversation."

"Huh?"

"Never mind. You made contact with Faith?"

"Yeah. You made contact with Angel?"

"Sort of. Harmony saw him, briefly, while I was going through his stuff."

"Oh."

"Yeah. So, it looks like somebody planted a tracking device on him and has been monitoring his movements. Oh, and I found traces of blood on his clothes."

"Blood?"

"Human blood, yeah. He's been being naughty."

"Yeah. I haven't heard back from Giles, and I left that wide open. Obviously things went sour."

"Yeah."

"I have an inkling where the apocalypse cult is hiding out. Tell him to check out the address I gave you earlier—hopefully they're still there."

"Okay."

Spike grimaced. "Take care." He closed the phone, sliding it into his pocket.

Dana leaned back against his knees. "That bad?"

"If the kid can't talk Angel down we're going to have the metaphorical rain of fire on our hands here. And that apocalypse cult is only getting started. Angel's not ready to go head to head with them--it's too soon for the nuclear option. And I doubt we're going to be able to protect Faith once this all gets started, not unless she really starts cooperating with us and protecting herself. Which means we're screwed."

Dana sighed. "Pretend that it's a good day?"

He grinned. "Okay. We're gonna win because we're good guys, and that's what we do. Anybody want to hear a bedtime story about the Scourge of Europe? I figure, as we're going to be seeing him back again before too long, might as well get to know the enemy."

Illyria sighed. "I served Angel once, but I never really knew him. Monster or man. It's almost easier to deal with the Scourge."

"Yeah… not really. Angelus is one nasty bugger. And buggering crazy, to boot."

Dana frowned. "Didn't you make it so that Angelus couldn't come out?"

"I made it so he couldn't lose his soul. But the real evil in us can't be hidden by a soul… it's not the panacea some people think it is. And if things go bad, it won't keep the demon down."

* * *

Angel woke up full of hot, warm blood.

It took him a few seconds to realize what that meant.

Then he started screaming.


	11. Champions lost and found

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 11: Champions lost and found

* * *

The office that Nina had been using was as far from her apartment as she could get. Still, it was close enough that Connor and Harmony both heard Angel scream.

Conner hit the ground running, not sparing a glance for Harmony. She followed a little slower, not understanding for a crucial second why Connor was moving so urgently.

Connor wasn't wasting any time. He knew his dad was on the edge, and screams were not a good sign. He broke through the door at the top of the stairs just as Angel stopped yelling.

It was quiet, and the lights were out. Typical for a vampire. Connor took a step back, letting his eyes adjust. "Dad? What's wrong?" He hoped that if it were an ambush Harmony would be able to bail him out.

"Oh, it's Connor," said Angel, a rough, sarcastic edge to his voice. Connor spun to face the closet. "Good timing. Couple hours late. Hey, are there any leather pants at all in here? I'm just finding jeans."

"Um. I think Spike said you weren't allowed to wear leather pants any more."

"Another reason to kill him. Good. Because I didn't have enough."

"Angel, what's going on?"

Angel stalked up to the door, wearing only a dusty pair of leather pants that looked like they were supposed to fit Nina, not him. "Not much. Going shopping. You like shopping? I like shopping. Yeah. Nina's on the bed." He stalked out the door.

Connor took a step forward, and the smell of blood assaulted his nostrils.

"Aw, cripes."

* * *

Spike took the call while everybody else was taking turns using the motel shower in the tiny room he'd paid for in cash. He sat down on the bed and rolled his lighter in his right hand while clenching the phone tightly in his left hand. Connor's voice usually meant good news. They had plotted many things together. They were buddies.

Right now his voice was just driving Spike to depression.

"She gonna be okay?" He listened silently. "Okay. Airlift her to the Slayer hospital they're building over the ruins of Sunnyhell, and tell Harmony it's time to cut loose. Leather pants? Crap!"

He closed the phone and crouched down, resting his palms on the thin, patchy rug and trying to regain that hatred that had always kept him strong and able to fight Angel before.

But now all he felt was sick to his stomach. There was no strength here, no way to fight Angelus. Nothing. Besides, all his powers were gone. He was a human now, with no source of strength at all. He was the most useless of them all, the Zeppo.

Faith walked out of the bathroom wearing a towel slung around her torso and tucked haphazardly. She stared at him for a second, scowling. "Bad news?"

"Angel tried to kill his girlfriend, apparently. And went looking for leather pants."

She sat down on the bed and let out a long sigh. "I need to go to him."

"That's the last thing you need to do. Fortunately, Nina looks like she's going to pull through. The wolf in her, you know. Extra strength, and all that."

"Good."

"Or not so good. Something like that tends to give the beast more control. Tends to bring out the animal side. Apparently she tried to bite Connor while he was administering first aid. And I don't even want to think about what he would look like with even more scary parts."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Spike ran one hand through his hair. "You're not my first choice to face Angel, you know. You ran out and got all drugged up to fight him, right? Not me. Me an Buffy, we took him apart last time. Gave him the old one-two."

"Oh? I didn't realize he came back as Angelus after you joined the fight for good."

"Well, he didn't. I was still evil then, see. But me and Buffy, we teamed up to take him down. It was this whole epic thing."

"Oh."

"Yeah. So, I'm thinking this is one of those things we can't help with. One of those things better left to people with shiny, untarnished souls."

"Yeah, right. We always get the garbage detail."

"Now the trash is taking out the trash?"

She tossed a pillow at him, but only halfheartedly. It knocked him down without making him shut up. "Ow! Stupid bint."

"You keep calling me that. Is that some English word for bitch?"

"Uh? No. It isn't. Not really. You don't know what that means? Boy, am I just wasting my breath over here? I mean, if you can't actually understand the insults that I throw at you, then I'm really losing it. Bint is… well, Harmony. An airhead. A … well, Harmony just about says it all, doesn't it?"

"I guess so. Are you sure it isn't some kind of sex thing?"

"No, when I call Xander a wanker that's a sex thing."

"Well, I knew that."

"You know what a wanker is but not a bint?"

"Sure."

"I despair at your educational system."

"Hey, I learned a lot at school. Like sign language." She demonstrated briefly. "So, what's your plan? Besides running away?"

He smiled, the mysterious and creepy smile that she hated so much. The one that meant he was planning something."I've got this idea that if you surface the screaming evil will too."

"I'm not going to live my life in hiding."

"Well, duh. Do I look like Angel? You're going to be bait, and the rest of the girls will be the trap. And Xander and I will stand around and look pretty and make snarky comments, because that's all we're good for. And when I say Xander and I, I mean mostly me. Because he's not good at either."

"Shut up about Xander or I'll break you in half."

"Oh, threatening normals again? That's evil, you know."

"Yeah? And since when are you just a normal?"

"Since I lost my powers. Stupid."

"Powers or no powers, you're not normal. We couldn't drag you out of this world if we tried—and you can bet your girls have thought about trying. I've thought about trying to drag Xander out of this life. He's more committed to this fight than I've ever been, and he'll never have a fraction of the powers I have. Why is that? Why is he so dedicated? Why are you?"

Spike scowled at her, hating deeply that he was going to give her a serious answer instead of brushing her off with an edgy snark. That would have been much easier. In fact, he would have given her that answer, any other day of the week, any other time. "It's that little bit her and I have in common. Even if Illyria and Dana pulled me away from this, I'd always know those few people I do care about are stuck in this battle. The ones I love the most will always be in it. Dana. Illyria. Buffy. Dawn. You. This is your destiny. I couldn't stand back and let you fight it alone. I can't. I won't."

"It's not your destiny. Not any more."

"That's why I did everything I could to make it my destiny. I'm a meddler at heart, love. A born-and-bred rebel. The powers that be told me to take a hike, and I told them to shove their marching orders. They told me they were done with me. Well, I'm not done with them! If only one of my girls was still in the fight, that would be reason enough for me."

Faith grinned. "You're so much like Xander it's scary sometimes."

"Yeah, I know. But don't tell him."

There was a knock at the door. Spike sighed. "That'll be one of my crew here for the handoff."

"Handoff?"

"Yeah, well… you know that bit where you wanted to go fight Angel and I said no?"

She nodded suspiciously, trying to sort out what that had to do with a handoff of any sort.

"And you know what I just said about being very protective of you?"

She saw where this was going. She jumped across the bed, grabbing her pants and sliding into them. "What the hell, Spike?"

"You know you'd go after Angel eventually, for the same reasons. You love him, you want to protect him." Spike folded his arms moodily. "Same reason I'm going to go after him once I've got you to safety. You and me, we're two of a kind, love." She grabbed a shirt, throwing the towel aside. He looked away, which surprised her more than anything else so far.

Dana and Illyria exited the bathroom, opening the door. Two vampires in game face stood beyond the door, holding rifles. "Come in," said Illyria. She pointed at Faith. "Don't shoot her unless I give the order. We don't want to hurt the baby."

"And you're all in on it? Where's Xander!" demanded Faith.

"Drugged him and put him in the chopper while I was talking to you," said Spike, an apologetic tone in his voice. "I'm sorry, Faith, but you and the big guy are bad news together, okay? Your kid needs you. The world needs your kid. And Angel needs some adjustment before he sees you."

"You said it would be better to let Buffy handle this!"

"It would. But, then again, he might be able to hurt her. He did pretty good last time he went up against her. So I'm not taking chances."

The vampires approached slowly. "Easy now, Slayer," said one. "We can't actually hurt you without a direct order from Illyria or Spike. Come on. We don't want anybody to get hurt… especially not us."

"The un-souled brigade, huh?" she asked bitterly.

Spike shrugged. "Could be worse. Harmony might be here… with her bright new shiny soul."

Illyria moved closer. "This is inevitable, Faith. Don't fight it. You and Xander will whisked to safety. We will protect you."

Dana shrugged. "And when we're done with Angel, he'll be a good guy again. That's what you really want, right?"

Faith scowled at her. "You've arranged this all so nicely, Spike." She thought about trying violence, but she was barefoot, and she'd be up against another Slayer. And Dana, although still very loosely tied to reality, was tough.

Especially following the merging of her essence with Illyria. Or whatever the heck they'd done.

And that left aside the question of hurting Slayers, something she was not doing. No fighting Slayers.

So Faith went along quietly, glaring back at Spike. He grinned and gave her a jaunty little wave.

There were a couple of human soldiers in the chopper with Xander. The vampires didn't get on board, just shutting the door behind her after she'd climbed up in.

Xander was a little groggy, but awake. "Ugh… Spike double-crossed us so he could go after Angel alone? That's so… so stupid. I should have seen it coming."

Faith hugged him, glaring at the soldiers as the helicopter took off. They had the good grace to look sheepish.

And the wheels in her head started turning.

* * *

Angel wasn't entirely sure where Faith was, which was the biggest flaw in his current plan. If Spike had her then his only hope was to infiltrate Spike's organization or the American military to find out, which were both pretty long shots.

On the other hand, there was Buffy. Either one of them would do right now, for his current plan. He wasn't proud. He'd take either.

So he kept running, trying to find somebody he knew. Anybody he knew.

Harmony was the first to find him, naturally. She had vampires with her, soulless vampires. He was more than a little surprised to see that she didn't appear quite as soulless as they did.

"Hi, Angel," she said, walking down the sidewalk towards him as if nothing was wrong. "Mind if we have a word?"

"Won't help, will it?" he snarled at her. "Look, where's Spike? Where's Faith?"

"They're on their way," she said soothingly. "Now, let's talk about this."

"They're late!"

"Late? What? Okay, look, you suck as a boss, as a hero, and as a bad guy. Let's talk about this."

Angel strode forward, twirling a stake in his hand. "No, you just stand there and listen. I don't care how you found me, or what you want. I want Spike here, right now. Or Faith. Or even Buffy. You're not the ones who are going to deal with this, the ones who are going to deal with me. You're just the second string."

Harmony whirled, catching his arm as he went to attack. "Angel, maybe nobody told you but there's a whole new bench being fielded right now. Your first string is out of gas, out of time, and out of… um… did I stretch the metaphor too far?" She tightened her grip, shaking the stake out of his hand. "Doesn't matter. There's a whole bunch going on right now. And we don't have time for you to be going over the edge."

He punched her in the face, knocking her to the ground. As the other vampires tried to swarm him he jumped up, into the air, grabbing the streetlamp above them and swing himself over to where the stake had been dropped.

Then he waded in, staking Harmony's minions one by one till it was only him and the bubble-headed blonde. "Your new bench is the one all out of steam, Harmony," he growled, letting his game face emerge. The football metaphor was a little strained; it was something he had hoped to save up to use on somebody a little more sports-centric, but this would have to do.

Then a hard body slammed into him from behind, sending him sprawling across the pavement. He knew there was only one person who could sneak up on him like that, and he rolled to his feet.

This would be interesting.

Connor stalked over to Harmony, helping her up in one smooth move. "Her vampires aren't the new bench, dipstick. They're the water boys."

Angel abandoned the stake, darting forward and trying to hit Connor. But Connor had always been faster than him, and he ducked under the blow easily, hitting Angel in the back.

Angel staggered, falling to the ground. "Well, isn't this familiar territory. The good son comes home to beat on his father. Or was it the other way around?"

Connor shrugged. "Well, I personally am all for making new family traditions. Let's do a new one and just talk about our problems instead of staking the hired help."

"They're not my hired help, technically. They're Spike's, and that makes them fair game."

"Oo, I like the complete lack of anything resembling logic there."

Angel rose up as fast as he'd fallen, slamming into Connor and sending him flying. "And shouldn't you be off at your normal life, with your normal girl-friend and your normal family?" Connor picked himself up quickly, moving closer to Angel cautiously.

"Oh, give it a break. My normal girlfriend broke up with me because I could never straight with her. My normal family wonders where I am and what I'm doing—except kid sister, who's working for Spike now. And... surprise. I've been dating a Slayer."

"Ergh. I should have known that would run in the family too."

"Yeah. And, as Spike says, life is cyclical… if you let it be."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means if you keep doing the same things, the same things are going to happen to you. Now, are you going to come along quietly?"

Angel punched Connor in the face, knocking him to the ground. "No." He whirled and hit Harmony, knocking her down, and ran off into the night.

* * *

Spike slapped his cell phone closed. These calls from Connor were becoming monotonous. "Gramps is at it again," he fumed, kicking the back of the seat in front of him.

Dana gave him an aggrieved look. "Be nice."

"I'm trying! What do you have for a plan?"

Dana thought about it. "Well, Angel helped me a lot. Gave me words of wisdom and stuff back when we were both being held by the Slayers in their little jail. So maybe I can use some of them on him."

"Good stuff, good stuff. Illyria?"

"Angel was never able to bring himself to give me words of wisdom, because I killed Fred. So I have nothing."

"Okay. Most of his words of wisdom to me are pretty hateful, so we'll save that for if we think we're really losing him."

* * *

Giles wasn't entirely comfortable with the military operation in LA. For starters, half the soldiers were vampires, walking around with chips in their heads and on their shoulders. They weren't really good, by any definition. But Spike and the US military had decided to use them, as best they could.

So far it was working out pretty good, but Giles didn't expect that to last.

Riley Finn was waiting for him, along with Dawn and Andrew. Giles let out a big sigh of relief when he saw Dawn and Andrew. "I can't tell you how relieved I am to see you two all right. I heard about the balance demon."

Dawn smiled. She was wearing a very business-like blazer and skirt combination, and looked every inch a Watcher. Andrew looked scruffy, young, and scared, by contrast. He still wondered what she saw in the boy.

Riley cleared his throat. "And it's good to see you in one piece, after hearing about Angel. Is this Ethan Rayne?"

Ethan gave him a sickly smile. "That's me, reformed evil warlock. Totally on the side of goodness and light now, thanks."

"We've completely destroyed the facility we were holding you at—the one that a member of an apocalypse cult had subverted. Do you know of any other incursions into my organization by the cult?"

Ethan scowled at Riley, just barely keeping himself from saying something pithy. "Mister Finn, I spent quite a long time in jail thanks to you. During that time I was forced to serve forces even darker than myself. Don't expect my full cooperation."

Giles elbowed Ethan in the stomach. "You have Ethan's sister here, and the rogue demon hunter?"

"Yes, and yes."

"Good." Giles rubbed his nose. "They may yet have some part in the impending apocalypse. Dawn?"

She sighed. "Well, most of the prophecies we have are incomplete. We're missing major portions of everything. Spike has them, and isn't sharing, but he gave us a synopsis. Apparently prophecy says that Angel is the swing vote, the one who can either nurture Faith's child and keep it from destroying the world or not. We desperately need him on our side, or else we're facing a really big problem."

"What about…neutralizing the child while it's still too young to destroy the world?" he asked delicately. It was a harsh and cold thing to say, but if it would save the world, he was willing to consider it.

Dawn shook her head. "Even if we were at the point where we might consider something like that, Spike has Faith right now. And he made it very clear that he'd see the world destroyed before he'd let the baby get hurt at all. Something about self-fulfilling prophecies and giving the baby an enemy. Which is really just his fancy way of justifying overprotective actions."

"Right." Giles knew too well that Spike was more than capable of resisting the Council's will these days, something that still bothered him immensely. Almost more so than the silent vampire warriors standing around the room.

Dawn grinned at Andrew. "Okay, it's time to start bringing some forces to bear. I have Buffy standing by with the elite strike team—our best and brightest. She's pretty confident if we can find Angel she can talk him down. Spike has his own team off doing something… I'm not too clear on that. That team includes Angel's son, by the by."

Andrew shook his head. "Not to rain on anybody's parade, but I have this feeling of impending doom. Anybody else?" Everybody gave him a puzzled look, except Ethan, who laughed.

"A feeling like your enemies are one step ahead of you?"

Andrew shook his head. "I'm no Peter Parker, but we're reacting, and somebody is out there acting. Right now. Doesn't that worry anybody?"

Dawn shook her head. "They can't end the world without corrupting Angel. That's where we need to be focusing."

"Or maybe we could just grab Faith and keep Angel away from the baby until his loyalties are sorted out," said Andrew.

"Spike has Faith." Dawn was being cool and logical again, which meant she was flustered.

"Spike. Yeah. I don't want to cast any aspersions on his character or anything… you know how I love the guy… but isn't his army made up of unsouled vampires? Same as the bad guy?"

Giles was a little bit proud. Andrew had moved right past everybody's general mistrust of Spike into the heart of the issue. "And his organization is connected intimately to Riley's… and we know Riley's organization was compromised."

Riley thought about it. "I'll contact Spike right now, and then Harmony."

Andrew sighed unhappily. They were still just reacting, and he knew it.


	12. We fight to live

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 12: We fight to live

* * *

It took Dawn approximately four hours after her meeting with Andrew to find out what Spike was up to, and where Faith was. It took her almost fifteen seconds to get him on the phone, mostly because her hands were shaking. The minute he said hello she let out a scream of rage.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Spike? What? What?"

He grimaced, holding the phone away from his head. "Somebody's snippy today."

"I can accept that you aren't going to go with the morally murky path. That's fine and dandy. I knew you wouldn't go along with any plan including terminating Faith's pregnancy. I knew that. I knew you'd try to keep Faith out of our hands to keep us from doing it on the sly, as it were. I got that. I can accept that you're going to do the macho thing and try to cut us all out the picture, keep the little women safe and all. I can even accept that you really do have Angel's best interests in mind, hard as that is to figure. I cannot accept that you are this stupid!"

"Good to talk to you too, Dawnie."

"You've leaked Faith's location all over the place! I just spoke to one of my demonic contacts--demonic, mind!--and he told me where she is, something I was able to confirm from three sources! At first I thought you were trying to throw them off, but then I got eyewitness confirmation! Eyewitness! By now everybody in the demon underworld and his brother knows where she is! Did you forget about the demonic cult trying to catch her? And who's supposed to protect her if you're dealing with Angel!"

"You know, I coach and I coach, but you still come off all shrill over the phone."

"Shut it, Spike! What about your half-demon operatives? You have all these compromised, soulless creatures on payroll, and you put them in charge of security? Are you insane?"

"Oh, I was counting on them turning on us. Vampires without souls always betray you, didn't you know that?"

"I hate you."

"Yeah, well. I take it she made it to the Denver compound okay?"

"That's the word. We're also getting reports of an unspecified number of demonic hordes heading for her."

"Yeah, that's the plan. Bloody good plan, too."

"I go back to, who exactly is going to protect her?"

"Silly girl. You should have worked that out a while back."

"Spike! Are you really planning on facing Angel alone? Don't do it! Now that you're normal he'll kill you for sure. Please, Spike!"

"Give my love to the Watchers, ey?" He hung up on her.

Dana glanced up at him from her perch below him on the side of the building. "Bad news?"

He continued climbing. "You know how it goes, love. Once a bad man, always mistrusted. Not that I'm surprised or anything. Where's Illyria?"

Dana tilted her head. "She's circling the office now. She doesn't think he's here."

"Good. That'll make it easier to rob the wanker, won't it?"

"I suppose."

* * *

Faith was kind of angry about being drugged and dragged away to Denver. Xander was downright furious.

"I can't believe we trusted him!" he spat.

She sat in the cushy arm-chair they'd set her in and glared across the desk at the vampire who had been watching them. "Why do I get a desk?"

"Spike said you'd want to read some of those files," replied the vampire. He looked very nervous.

Xander picked up a file, throwing it to the floor. "This is bull."

"Er." The vampire wasn't going to disagree, noted Faith.

"Could you give us some alone time?" she asked, just a touch too sweetly.

The vampire nodded in relief and retreated, leaving them along. Xander let out a long sigh and sat down on the desk. "I hate him."

"I know."

"Worse, I think I may have become him … or vice versa. It's very disturbing for me to see so much of myself in him. Disturbing to think that I'd do the same thing he would do."

"Is that what's got you on edge?"

"Oh, yeah. Drag you away from Angel and make sure you don't see him again till it's settled? I would have done that in a heartbeat if I could have! I hate him so much for doing what I would do."

"Yeah. I was thinking about something similar to make sure he didn't face Angel now that he's a normal."

"Exactly! And me too! That's so wrong, that I was thinking about protecting Spike. So wrong."

"Right."

* * *

Harmony dabbed a cold compress at Connor's hair while he tried to read. "Doesn't that hurt? It looks like it hurts."

"Just give it a rest, Harm. I'm fine." He was mostly mad that he had lost to his father in a fair fight, again. He was supposed to be their best line of defense, their most powerful agent, but he somehow always fell down to second best around his father.

She switched hands and began dabbing the compress at her own head. "You know, I don't think he was responding all that positively to me."

"He didn't stake you."

"True. But, I mean, he wasn't exactly happy to see me. And, hey! I'm a good guy now. Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"Well, it's hard figuring out where I fit in! Most folks think Spike's still evil. And I'm part of a huge government conspiracy to hide the truth from the people. And the government sometimes turns off my chip so I can kill people who they call bad! You tell me if that's morally acceptable."

"Oh."

"Besides that, Spike made me sign these papers and do all these spells when I was getting my soul to make sure I wouldn't steal Angel's hero gig. And you know what? Most of them were just stupid! And I think I may have signed something that keeps me from being truly good. Or something. Because if I'm too good it's bad for Angel."

"Harmony, please relax."

"Relax? When Angel will probably hunt us down and kill us? Fat chance!"

"Don't sweat it. Spike has plans. In the meantime, we have a plan B to attend to."

"Ugh."

* * *

Angel had never been to Denver before. He was surprised by how much he liked it, especially after he had hated Antarctica so much.

But this place was alive and bustling. Full of people who were full of blood. Or it was supposed to be, anyway. There were surprisingly few people out on the streets tonight. But just knowing that the dark buildings were probably full of people was working pretty well for him, anyway.

He stalked the darkened streets, searching for the government compound where Faith was holed up. His sources, while they might not be as complicated and thorough as Spike's, were still pretty good.

And they'd found Faith for him pretty handily.

Her scent was all over the airport, drenching it. She'd waited there nearly an hour for a car, he decided. The car hadn't gone far. Just next door he picked up her scent again, leading into a tall building with expensive stained glass windows.

Inside he followed her scent to a waiting area, where she'd obviously been forced to wait a long time.

He was surprised. Usually Spike was pretty good about hiding things and people. Being sneaky and secretive, he tended to cover his own trail and make his people cover theirs. Apparently they were sloppy here in Denver.

Angel headed for the elevators. Nobody tried to stop him. Apparently they hadn't been given a description of him.

It was downright insulting how easy this was.

He wiped his hands off on his leather pants as the elevator rose through the levels. He'd hit every button, and on every floor he'd take a good whiff of the air before heading up again. He hoped he didn't pick up any passengers. That would be awkward.

When he reached the top her scent was there, unmistakably strong. He really couldn't believe Spike had been this careless in trying to hide the dark Slayer. Was he stupid? Or did he not care enough about Faith to try harder?

Angel stalked out of the elevator, wondering just how hypocritical it was for him to criticize Spike for his inability to protect Faith.

She was in the first office, with the door open, going over some files. Xander was sitting on the desk that she was behind, doing the same.

She didn't look up as he came in. "I told you to give us some time to read up on this," she said, distracted.

"Sorry, time's up."

Her head snapped up, and she just stared at him with big eyes for a second, so vulnerable that his heart ached over what had to come next.

But it had to happen. He steeled himself, putting on his biggest possible grin. "So, how's the kid? Just nummy, I'm sure."

Xander scrambled to his feet, pulling a stake out of his back pocket. "Alright, Evil Dead, round two, bring it on!"

Faith grabbed him, snatching the stake out of his hand and pulling him behind the desk. "Angel. I take it things have been bad."

"Never better, actually. I had an epiphany. One of those very releasing things. Something that brought all the prophecies I'd ever read into crystal-clear focus. One that just made everything right. Wanna hear it? Or shall I show you?" He let his true face emerge then, shaking away his facade of humanity.

She showed no fear as the demon came out. "Epiphany, huh? Please tell me there were drugs involved, at least."

"Well, oddly enough, there weren't. Bummer, huh? We can fix that this time through, I betya. Blood's the best drug of all, don't you know."

He stalked forward, stretching his arms out to the sides to prepare himself for the fight to come. Faith didn't move, just staring at him woodenly. Xander tried to get free to try to defend her, but she held him in place with her strength.

"What's the matter, Faith? Need a little incentive?" asked Angel. "Maybe I should kill the boy-toy first."

She moved forward quickly, slamming a fist into his face and sending him flying across the room to slam into the wall. "Don't you even talk about Xander that way!" she hissed, pushing Xander behind her and out of harm's way.

Angel leapt to his feet. "Or maybe I'll save him for dessert. A tasty Scooby-snack, huh?"

Faith launched herself at him, forgetting whatever reservations she'd had a minute ago. She hit him hard, and fast, more alive than he'd ever seen her, her blows more vicious than they'd ever been.

He could barely block half the blows she sent at him. He was driven back, out the open door and into the hall.

She followed him, a look of rage on her face. The stake in her hand was held half-up, ready to impale him. Ready to kill him.

He recovered his balance and tried to counter-attack, punching her in the face. Although she rocked back she recovered quickly, keeping her eyes on him and kicking him in the gut.

He doubled over, and she froze, halfway to striking him. He dove forward, catching her in the stomach and knocking her into the wall. He felt the tip of the stake scrape at his back, but it didn't penetrate.

He shook her off and grabbed her shoulder, leaning in towards her shoulder.

She still had the stake in her hand, between them. She rested the tip on his chest, not pressing it forward.

"Come on!" he growled, pushing his head closer to her neck.

"You want it?" She grabbed his hand, forcing it onto the stake. She let go, leaving it in his hand. "You'll have to do it yourself." Then she punched him in the face, hard, knocking him down onto the ground.

He groaned, letting the stake slip through his fingers.

She knelt over him, putting a hand on the side of his face. "Is that what this is about? You wanted me to kill you? That's the coward's way out."

He coughed. "Got the idea from you. Bitch."

"Yeah? And what did you say to me then. God, Angel! You are the stupidest man I've ever met. I swear to God."

"Ugh."

She grabbed him in a tight hug. "You big doofus." She was crying, hard. He could smell the salt, and now he couldn't hold back his own tears. He was bleeding and bruised and crying, and he couldn't hold any of it in.

"I hurt Nina."

"I know."

"I don't… what kind of champion am I? All I do is hurt the people I love."

"The best champion I've ever known, Angel. The best I've ever known."

* * *

Spike flipped through Angel's book collection, scowling. "The big poofter doesn't have a single book here I don't have. Bah! Where does he get off saying my collection is small? I have several volumes I don't even see here!"

Dana was watching him and smiling. "Are you mad he exaggerated, or mad you didn't think of it first?"

"Both! Bloody nit."

Illyria returned from the roof, crossing her arms. "I've just received word from your agents in Denver. Plan rope-a-dope went down without a hitch. There are bodily fluids leaking now."

"Oh. Um." Spike frowned. "The good kind, or the bad kind?"

"What are the good kind?"

"Well, tears. Snot. You know. Bad is blood, right? In this case."

"The good kind, I suppose. Although tears have never seemed good to me."

"Well, work with me here, Blue."

Illyria shrugged. "As you surmised, Faith was easily able to bring him out of his suicidal funk."

"Terrific. Now if only we had some better lead on the others."

"According to your agents a small army of demons is converging on them."

"Well, good. Angel's in position to get back on his feet and do his job, now."

Dana sighed. "Couldn't we have just told everybody else about this plan? Why do we have to sneak around and trick them?"

Spike chuckled. "You think Dawn flipped out when she thought I was just being careless with Faith? If she'd known I purposely led Faith right by every traitor I knew of, if she knew that I tried to make sure Angel would have a clear shot at her, she'd already be trying to kill me. She would never imagine in a million years that he needed to face her--never. So… we have to be sneaky."

Dana sighed. "Well, hopefully the rest of the plan works as well."

Illyria sniffed. "One of Spike's plans? Clearly you're forgetting all the other plans we've worked on together. Or maybe you're thinking of a different kind of plan." Dana blushed.

Spike waved a hand at her. "Ignore the nay-sayer. Anybody find anything?"

Dana rubbed a hand over an expensive-looking clock. "Well, a lot of this is worth money. Do you want to smash it?"

Spike got a gleeful look in his eye, but Illyria just shook her head. Spike sighed, and Dana nodded. "Then I haven't found anything."

Illyria shook her head. "Whatever papers and books he's been concealing from us remain concealed. None of the missing portions of the prophecies are here."

Spike scowled. "Bloody ponce. Once, just once, I'd like him to make things easy for me. Just once! Okay, let's get out of here."

Dana sidled up next to him, shuffling her feet and keeping her eyes on the floor. "You're mad."

"Just a little. I know he's holding out on me—I know it! There's some very valuable information hidden in his head somewhere—stuff about prophecy and what-not. He's always been better with the book stuff than me. I have to get Connor on that. He'll figure it out. And I kind of want to help Harmony. She's still adjusting to the soul."

Illyria snorted. "She wants to know if your anger is pointed at her, stupid."

"What? Oh. No. 'S not your fault, kiddo." He patted Dana on the shoulder, and she nodded.

"I know. It's just… with the prophecies all around, you get so focused. And I worry about you."

"Oh. So you really mean, am I mad at you because you disagree with me about what to do next? Nah."

"I hadn't got to that part."

"Yeah, but it was obvious you were going to. So, go ahead. What do you think I'm doing wrong?"

"Well, maybe not wrong. Just sideways."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Shouldn't we tell somebody about the armies heading for Denver? It's just going to be Angel and Faith up there. All alone."

Spike wrapped an around Dana's shoulders, pulling her closer to him. She let him, finally meeting his eyes. Just a hint of uncertainty and timidity behind the trust he could see.

"Love, trust me, this is something Angel has to do. He's lost so many battles, been proven second best so many times, that it's nearly broken him. They've beat him down till he nearly served them. Till he was ready to have Faith stake him. Besides that, anybody who steps in to help Angel right now does so at their own risk. He knows the stakes, and he knows what job he's been given in this whole mess. He's supposed to protect her. Much as I love Dawnie, this went right over her head. I know how they think. They're already thinking about killing the kid, ending the threat to the world that way. Ignoring the way the prophecy reads. Ignoring who the protector of that child is. Do they really want to set themselves up against Angel?"

"He doesn't seem like much of a Champion," replied Dana. "I'm pretty sure I can take him."

Spike shook his head. "You could take him right now, maybe. That's because he's lost the fire, lost his spirit. Winning the fight is more than just having the strength, or the moves. It's about wanting it, believing it. As soon as he gets that back, and he will, he's going to be a force to fear."

Illyria shook her head. "You are a romantic."

"Hey, I have zero romantic feelings for Angel. Zero!"

* * *

Dawn wasn't even sure why she bothered checking her e-mail. Except that while she was doing it she could hear everybody behind her arguing about how to get to Faith in Denver, what to do about Faith, and how to do it, and she didn't want to be part of that argument.

Not right now.

There were no e-mails. She closed her PDA just a little reluctantly. Andrew was trying to drum up support for Spike and Angel, but it was a lost cause. Nobody here trusted vampires with souls or ex-vampires.

Nobody was even listening to Andrew.

She left the room, heading upstairs. She found Ethan pretty easily. He was trying to get a window open.

"They have vampires patrolling the perimeter," she told him as she passed. He fell backwards, onto the floor, surprised by her stealthy approach.

That, at least, cheered her up.

Nina was in restraints on the top floor. She was still pale and bruised, although her eyes had turned a dark yellow that was decidedly creepy. Buffy was there with her, sitting and reading a book while Nina watched the television.

"Hey, guys. Bonding?" Dawn tried to keep her tone light. She was not, she vowed, going to bring Angel up. This would be a very bad time for that.

They both just glared at her.

"Okay. Fine. That's the way it is. You guys want to hear about our latest plan?"

"Unless I'm supposed to be in the air with my team, nope," said Buffy, looking back down at her book. Dawn tilted her head, peering at the title.

"Is that a translation of the Shanshu prophecies?" she asked suspiciously.

"As a matter of fact, it is." Dawn strode forward and grabbed it from Buffy quickly.

"We have rules about that. No unsupervised reading of prophecies! Prophecies can mean a lot of things—they're dangerous! You helped write that rule!"

"I know. I got special permission from one of your Watchers." Buffy snatched it back. "Because whatever's going on with Faith is in here somewhere. However vague."

"Untrained people going through prophecies have never, ever produced anything good, Buffy! Never!"

"Er… well. I've had some training."

Nina coughed. "If you two are going to fight, could you do it somewhere else? I'm feeling really crappy."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Fine. I came up here to talk to you, Nina. Ask you about, um, Angel."

Buffy and Nina both glared at her, hard, and she was once more reminded that she was the only one without superpowers. That sucked so bad.


	13. My Way

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 13: My way

* * *

Angel was still in the shower when Xander finally persuaded one of Spike's pet unsouled vampires to talk to him. All the vampire said was 'yes,' but it was a victory.

He took the phone from the vampire, careful not to let his arm get too close to its mouth. Chipped or not, it was a vampire. "Connor? Is that you?"

"It's Harmony. I was calling for Faith. Is she there?"

"She's taking a nap right now."

"What? That sounds so old person-ish."

"Well, she's pregnant. Harmony, what's going on?"

"Huh? I don't know. Why am I talking to you? Why aren't I talking to Julius? I was just talking to Jules."

"I took the phone from Jules. Listen, Angel just showed up."

"Oh. Is anybody dead? Less un-dead?"

"What? No!"

"Oh, good. That's good. I worry, you know. Well, a little bit."

"Harmony! I need to know what's happening. Do the forces of darkness know where I am?"

"Well, duh. Of course they do."

"Of course they do?"

"That was the plan, right?" The minute she said that, he knew that it had been the plan. It hadn't been his plan, or Faith's plan, or Angel's plan, but it was the plan. Spike's plan. "Don't worry. The Denver office is where we keep all the weapons Angel loves. Tell him to just pick up the bag in the locker with his name on it. It should have all his favorites. And we have a bag for Faith too. Spike said you would be happy with just the stake-gun Riley built—although, if you ask me, it won't be nearly as easy to use as Hugh Jackman made it seem."

"You guys made me a Van Helsing crossbow?"

"No. Of course not. Don't be silly. Yours is pneumatic. Air-powered. It's more reliable than the crossbow thingie…and actually works."

"Oh. Right."

"Spare air canisters fully charged in a belt, and two extra clips of those special arrow-stakes. In a bag. It's all very well labeled, actually. The R and D guys say it's easy to use—although I don't see it, myself."

"You guys are scaring me. What are we up against?"

"Well, did you ever see that movie 28 Days?"

"Uh, yeah."

"And that John Carpenter movie about vampires?"

"Yeah, I guess…"

"And that demon movie, Hellspawn?"

"Yeah?"

"Take the bad guys from all those, roll them together, and put them on the next flight to Denver. Plus a couple of guys with an axe to grind with Angel."

Xander still wasn't entirely sure what Spike's plan was, and he was running out of banter. "Uh…?"

"Oh, come on. Spike said he'd tell you guys about the plan to lure the ultimate evil out into the open so Angel could destroy it! You mean I totally spoiled the big surprise?"

Xander took a minute to collect himself, and to let his heart speed up a little bit from the dead stop he'd left it at. "Harmony, I hate you, I hate Spike, and I hate vampires. Okay?"

Harmony made a hurt noise, a squeak of pain. "That's mean."

"I don't care. When I get my hands on you and Spike you're both DEAD, Harmony. I gotta go. Thanks." He politely handed the phone back to Julius, who looked nervous. "Where's the weapons?" He needed weapons in his hands now. He needed to be ready. That insane urge to stand between Faith and any threat was rising again, no matter how often he reminded himself that she was a million times better at facing those threats.

"In the penthouse," replied the vampire, pointing. "We've arranged a reception at the front door, so there should be a big ruckus when the bad guys arrive. Elevators are disabled, so you should have a few minutes from when the fighting starts to get ready. Okay?"

"Fine, thanks." Xander rushed back the way he'd come, heading for the bathrooms. "Faith! FAAAIIITTH! We've got trouble coming!"

Angel appeared, stepping out of a side passage. He was still wearing the leather pants, so Xander backpedaled furiously, his instincts telling him that Angel in leather pants equaled Angelus. "Gah!"

Angel shook his head at the reaction, still trying to pull himself together. "We have a problem. You guys left a trail a mile wide. We need to get you out of here before every badguy on the West Coast arrives."

"Too late!" spat Xander. "I'm going to wake up Faith. There's weapons in the penthouse."

Angel thought about that. "Why are there weapons in the penthouse, Xander?"

"Apparently this was all part of one of Spike's very convoluted plans!" It wasn't actually all that convoluted, when Xander thought about it. Bring Faith and Angel together, and bring their enemies too. Force them to bond and work together or die.

Angel absorbed that stoically, running a hand through his spiky hair, and twitching slightly. "Well. Get Faith and head for the penthouse, then. I'll just… ask one of the vampires what else we can expect."

"No good. They're all Spike's pet vampires!"

"Ugh."

They split up, Xander heading for the apartment where Faith had conked out and Angel heading for the stairs to the penthouse.

* * *

Spike smashed an expensive vase as they left Angel's house, just out of spite. It caused Dana to give him a hard look, and Illyria pushed him.

"What?" he asked, trying to sound innocent.

They ignored him, heading for the van. He sighed and slid into the driver's seat. "Okay, it's out of line for me to break his stuff. Got it."

Dana sat down behind Spike, and Illyria took shotgun. She immediately began to transform, her blue coloring fading and rippling as she began hiding behind her human façade. "It's not that you're being petty and spiteful that we mind, really. It's that you're being mean again. You're nice to us, and mean to the world. That's a matter of hypocrisy and double standards."

He rolled his eyes. "No more bloody Doctor Phil for you."

Dana nodded. "Doctor Phil is evil."

"Well, he means well," hedged Spike.

"No, he's evil!" insisted Dana. "He's a Pollorian demon. He feeds off his callers."

"Oh. Huh." Spike wasn't too surprised. "So, how we doing?"

Illyria sighed. "We're four hours behind schedule so far. We found none of the missing prophecies you hoped Angel was hiding from you. Evil is growing, and we still don't know the answers to the most important questions."

"Evil always is, love." Spike rubbed his hands in his hair. "Okay, let's take stock for a minute, shall we?"

Dana groaned. "Do we have to?"

"Yes, love. Dee, dee, dee. I got it."

Illyria leaned over and started the van while Spike stared into space and mumbled to himself. "What do you have?" she asked patiently.

"I think we've made a mistake."

"Spit it out."

"We passed up our chance to confront Dawn and the Watcher's Council, right? Well, Riley's in place to handle that, but I'm not sure he'll succeed. Never was. I was hoping I'd have new information--stuff that would stop them once and for all, confirm our worst fears about Denver."

"You think you can't make the Slayers go to Africa instead of Denver?"

"Well, I'm not sure. I mean, do you think he's up to it? He's not. He's good, but he can't lie."

Illyria groaned, throwing her hands up in the air. "So what do we do? We have nothing."

Spike sighed. "We would have if I hadn't been so sure Angel was hiding something from me! If we hadn't come here and tossed his place…"

Dana giggled. "Your paranoia has finally worked against you!"

He scowled at her. "The first time ever."

Illyria shook her head. "What about that time you insisted that the hapless client who approached us because they were being stalked by a demon was probably just trying to trick us and get close to us? And they were devoured?"

"Well, they probably deserved it anyway."

Dana couldn't stop giggling. "Paranoid!"

Spike sighed. "All right, let's go figure out a plan B. Worst possible outcome is that the Slayers don't go to Africa… which is pretty bloody funny, if you think about it. Their paranoia plus mine equals disaster, right?"

* * *

Angel wasn't entirely awake yet. He was more than a little angry. His head was buzzing, and he couldn't think straight.

He kept walking, trying not to glare at the vampires who were running around. Most of them were in full combat-getup, a mixture of black leather and khaki that was just plain disturbing.

Several of them, he noted, had bleached their hair blonde. They all seemed very nervous, as if they were afraid of him.

That was all right, if they were afraid of him. In fact, he kind of liked it. That didn't help with his depression, his suicidal impulses, or his homicidal impulses. But it did restore his bruised ego a bit.

Faith was in the middle of dressing when he found her, while Xander was hastily unpacking boxes of weapons.

She glared at him. "You gonna try to tell me to sit this out too?"

Angel glanced to Xander, who looked angry. "I'm not sure, yet."

"Not sure? Try this on for size; I'll do as I please!" she spat.

Angel shouldn't have been surprised by her answer, but he was. "Faith, we don't… it's not that we think you're helpless or anything. It's not just some parochial… well, I mean, in a way it is, but… Faith, this is all about you! You're the one they're after!"

"Well, in a way… I'm the one they're going to get." She smirked at the double meaning, although Xander looked like he was ready to spit nails. He always wanted to protect Faith, and here, again, he couldn't. Angel was glad that wasn't his lot in life.

Angel sighed. "Faith, I'm not trying to be the bad guy here. I don't want to make your decisions for you. Just let us help, okay?"

* * *

Riley surveyed the angry faces all around him, and swallowed, hard.

Most of them could break him in half. Those who couldn't could always think of something worse to do to him. "Spike was supposed to come here and brief you all on recent developments, but he's heading for Denver, instead, to help fight the horde of descending darkness…what the heck?"

Dawn, who was standing the closest, chortled while he exmained the papers in front of him. "Did Spike actually write you up some cue cards?"

"Um, yes." Riley stared down at the message in his hand. "Horde of descending darkness? Who talks like that?"

The room was chock-full of Slayers and Watchers. Giles was standing at Dawn's side, one of Spike's books in his hands, trying to read it. "And his handwriting is atrocious," he mumbled.

Riley wasn't sure where he had gotten said book, or when, but was sure Spike knew that. He hoped this wasn't another of Spike's half-baked plans. "The bad guys know where Faith is, and are throwing everything they have at her. Angel is by her side, and he's the one prophecy says can swing this one. In the meantime, we need to move all the Slayers to Africa."

Dawn thought about that for a second. "Okay, let me see if I follow Spike's logic here. All the bad guys are in Denver. He and Angel are in Denver. And we're supposed to go to Africa?"

Giles looked up from the book he was holding. "All right, then, we need a jet. Probably several. And Africa's a big place. Does he know where, exactly, we need to be?"

"Hold it!" yelled Dawn. "A little side of explanation with my large helping of what the heck, please?"

Andrew stood up and approached Giles. "What are you reading?"

"Spike's journals. Apparently he's been taking his role as Dana's Watcher far more seriously than I thought." Giles glanced around the room. "Er, do I have the floor?"

"Go ahead," said Dawn, leaning back and closing her eyes. She could definitely feel a migraine coming.

"He sent me these journals just the other day. Spike's known about Faith's child for quite some time now. Possibly as long as Angel has known. However, once he realized that Angel was pivotal in the prophecy most of his research has centered on, um, other concerns. Basically, he thinks that because Angel is pivotal in this prophecy, it's his problem. Spike has been… (_dear Lord, I can't say it_)… Spike has been focusing on the big picture."

"So, what's in Africa?" asked Dawn, as coolly as she could. She knew a distraction when she heard it.

"Er, it appears that Spike has long been involved in a cult trying to recreate the original Slayer. That is, he's been infiltrating them. They're getting ready to make, um, male Slayers. For nefarious purposes, according to Spike. Um. This could be a wild goose chase, frankly. It's barely a footnote on his journals. But it's dangerous if it's at all true."

Andrew frowned. "What takes up the most room in there?"

"Well, he catalogs… um. I don't know that it's the military's business." Everybody stopped and gave Riley a hard look. He threw his hands up in the air.

"Hey, Spike sends me copies of the journals, so I already know, okay?"

Giles sighed. "Progress reports on Dana's mental and physical health comprise the bulk of it. As well as notes on how Illyria is progressing. Er, apparently being linked with Dana has done wonders for her."

Andrew sighed. "I'm trying to ask why you think he might be making Africa up to keep us away from Angel and Faith."

Giles frowned. "It's just… there's no details! Just a footnote. He might as well have just written in 'go to Africa, Slayers!'"

"Er." Riley rubbed his forehead. "That was in my notes here, from Spike. To say. If you don't believe anything else."

* * *

The first explosion came as Xander was loading up the stake-gun. He still wasn't sure if it would work at all, Harmony's excited plug for it aside.

Angel headed out the door, towards the elevators. "Xander, you and Faith stay here. I'll be back as soon as I see what we're up against."

"Yeah, screw that!" spat Faith, grabbing a handful of stakes and stuffing them into her belt, following Angel.

Angel sighed, stopping. "I'm just going down to the lobby for information. I'll come back."

"When the fighting's over, you mean. I'm not stupid."

Angel shrugged. "Well. Okay. If you want to come, that's fine. But after we find out what's down there we're coming back here and regrouping if it's big."

"That'll be more than a little redundant," grumbled Xander. "Go find the evil. Go see the evil. Run away." He thought about it for a second. "No, wait, that sounds like my life."

Faith chortled. "You and me both."

Xander shoved an air canister into position, and listened to the gentle hissing of the weapon. "Seems to me Angel just ran out of running."

The elevator at the end of the hall dinged. Faith ran out after Angel, who clearly was still trying to get downstairs without her. "Jerk!" she snarled, grabbing the doors as they were sliding closed.

Angel inhaled her scent deeply as she climbed onto the elevator and the doors closed. Epiphany or no, tender touching moment or no, her blood filled him with blood-lust. The sound of her heartbeat entwined so intimately with her child's tiny heartbeat echoed madly in his ears. He couldn't even keep his face from shifting, the demon emerging again.

There was a ding, and the doors slid open slowly, so slowly. The lobby was full of vampires, all of them armed with swords and guns. A few wearing khaki were backed up into a corner, being picked off one at a time. Angel assumed they were the good guys.

He strode forward, channeling all the anger and lust and hatred his demon was stirring up within him.

He could hear Faith trying to keep up, but he ignored her. He had to ignore her.

He tore into the first vampire viciously, not holding back anything now. He'd held the demon within back for so long that it seemed to scream with victory and rage as he grabbed the vampire by the neck, wrenching and tearing at it and forcing it to the ground, taking the sword in its hand away.

Then he realized he had screamed out loud, a roar of rage. Everybody in the room froze.

He swung the sword in a wide arc, taking the vampire's head off. One of the vampires tried swinging a gun around to bear on him, but he just threw the sword, knocking the vampire down and cutting it in half.

"You guys think you're ready for the big leagues?" he howled, all too aware that he sounded crazy.

At this point, though, it was all he could do to channel his rage and blood-lust towards the bad guys.

He jumped forward, propelled by a need for violence so strong that he wasn't sure he would be able to stop when all the bad guys were dead.

Fortunately, even more were streaming the door, vampires and other demons.

He wasn't sure it would be enough.

* * *

Nina watched Buffy carefully out of the corner of her eye. The wolf in her was coming out strong, the monster taking over all of her carefully phrased neutral phrases and making them poisonous barbs.

It was hard enough talking to her boyfriend's Ex, the one that had defined his life for so long, without all that supernatural baggage coming up too.

Buffy pretended to read Spike's journal a little bit longer, then lowered it. "What?" she asked, sounding a little annoyed.

"Nothing," said Nina quickly. "I mean… um… shouldn't you be downstairs helping them argue and stuff?"

Buffy shrugged. "I'd rather be here." She went back to reading.

"Yeah, well… why?"

That was the big question. Buffy had been trying very hard to be nice to Nina, and to spend time with her, and the werewolf wasn't sure why.

Buffy put the journal down, although her eyes stayed on it. "I've been in a position very similar to yours, and I just wanted… to help you. If I could. Maybe some words of wisdom, maybe some support. I've never been very good at that, though."

"Oh."

"And I'm trying to be a better, more mature, more wise me. Grown up and all."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Sucks."

"Didn't I hear Dawn say that you needed to get a strike team ready to head to Denver? Or Africa?"

"My strike team is ready any time. Whichever route they choose."

"And that's why Dawn asked all those questions about Angel's sanity? Because that was weird."

"Well, she's trying to decide if she can trust Angel."

"Don't you trust Angel?"

Buffy smiled. "I've always shown a lack of good judgment when it comes to men. Emotional neediness, a lack of insight… you know, the typical girl."

"Er, that's pretty insulting."

"Yeah, well, you're dating a vampire who's maybe five or ten times your age who has a history of killing women. You tell me whether or not that's a fair stereotype."

"But he's not like that anymore!"

"…says the woman with the recent scars on her neck. Can you see how this might be seen as a situation exactly like mine? Well, maybe not exactly."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Insight, and all." Buffy laughed a little bit, and there was some wisdom there, which hurt even more than all her self-deprecating comments.

"What about Spike?" asked Nina.

"I don't talk about that a lot. I mean, it's embarrassing and hard to explain." Mostly because it was all about sex, nothing more.

"Oh."

"And beyond that, Spike is a very emotionally immature person who needed somebody strong to help him during the whole time we were together, and I wasn't that strong, and I was even more immature than him, and I'm pretty sure I ended up hurting him a lot."

"Um… I don't want to say oh again, but I really can't think of anything else. Why are you telling me this?"

"Well… here's the thing. Angel really needs you to be strong and emotionally mature … assuming both of you survive this. And I'm pretty sure it would be easy to do the immature thing and be weak and it would hurt Angel a lot. And it would probably hurt you a lot too. And I don't know exactly what would be the best thing. And I'm not sure what kind of advice to give you… I'm not even sure I'm capable of the kind of maturity you're going to need soon."

Nina stared at the tiny blond woman. "You know what? I used to hate you. You know, before I met you. Because I knew just how much you'd hurt Angel before, and I knew how important you were to him… and I was a little scared of the power that you had over him. It never really occurred to me that you might be… well, that you might have learned something from him. Might have grown up."

Buffy smiled. "I do try."

Dawn stomped in the door and glared at both of them. "The smiles? They go away now. We're splitting up. Apparently Riley is convinced Spike is right that we need to be in Africa, despite the flimsiness of his lies. So Riley and Giles are taking half our Slayers and all his vampires and heading to Africa. And you and I are going to Denver."

Buffy drew a deep breath. "Well, then. I'll get my team to the jet pad. Bye, Nina."

They both rushed out, leaving Nina lying there strapped down, with Spike's journal beside her.

She picked it up, staring at the plain cover and trying not to think about what Angel was facing right now. She was scared, and felt so very helpless. She'd tried to help Angel, to be part of his team, but right now she just felt like a liability.

Buffy had talked about being strong. When Angel had come to her, needing help, afraid of himself and the darkness within, all she had done was unleash that darkness, sending him further over the edge.

She was seriously thinking about breaking up with him, if he survived, and she knew it would break his heart.

She opened Spike's journal to the front page, trying to forget Angel and the hard choices facing her. There was an inscription, and she tried to focus on it and read.

After the first time through her heart was racing, and she had to go back and read it again.

'Dear reader; if you're evil and searching for my weaknesses, start at page fifty. If you're Buffy looking for insights into me and Dana, page twenty. And skip page sixty-eight, please? Angel, put this book down, you blighter. Giles, special notes for you on page one-ten. Connor… you don't need this book. You know it all already. Illyria, let's have a talk, huh?'

It was the very last sentence that her eyes kept going back to again and again.

'Nina; this book's not for you. I have another one for you. Ask any of Riley's vampires. Don't let anybody else read it.'

Buffy hadn't told her everything, she realized, biting her lower lip. Buffy had brought that book here again and again, only that book. Spike's journal. Buffy had been afraid to give her the book and show her Spike's note, afraid to put her on that trail.

But she'd left the book there on the bed, within Nina's reach.

Nina leaned over and tapped the call button. A vampire wearing a white coat rushed to the door, a concerned look on his face.

"I need the book Spike left for me," she said.

She had never really trusted Spike. He was nice and charming and snarky, but Angel didn't like him at all. Although Angel seemed to trust him, which was strange. But right now he seemed to have answers nobody else had.

She could use a few of those.

* * *

Spike stared dumbly at the text message on his cell phone. "Riley couldn't convince the Slayers totally and half of them are heading for Denver? Bollocks! Now…? oh, crap."

"All is lost?" prompted Illyria sourly. "What now?"

"I don't know. I may have doomed this plan by not being there to lie to them convincingly. I just needed to buy Angel some time... but it looks like I miscalculated badly. Without me there to properly convince them... If the Slayers get into that battle… Crap!"

"What now?" asked Dana, fidgeting.

"I don't know, pet. I don't have any answers now. Not for this. Crap! What a mess."


	14. Run to you

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 14: Run to you

* * *

Dawn's cell phone rang. She picked it up, more than a little annoyed. "Hey, Spike. What's up?" She didn't even have to check the caller ID. They were moving counter to Spike's master plan, the one he hadn't even bothered to tell them.

Of course he would call.

"Hi, Dawn. Got a minute?" His voice was laden with sarcasm, which was completely normal for him. She wasn't even sure he knew how to talk without it.

She checked her watch. "My team is loading into the jets now. You have about a minute and a half to convince me that your paper-thin story about Africa is even partly true and I'll reroute the jet."

"Okay, there is a group in Africa. It's true!"

"Yeah, but you and I both know that the story about Slayers is only half-right, and that it's not just the demon in the Slayers that makes them so powerful, it's the balance, the purity, the innocence. You and I both know it."

"Um… yeah."

"And that group in Africa will fail, with or without intervention. They're barking up the wrong tree."

"Sonova—well, aren't you the overly bright little watcher! God, Dawnie! What a time for you to slow down and be smart about things. Well, there's more about that group in Africa. They're actually connected with Wolfram and Hart and the apocalypse cult that's after Faith's baby. You need to shut them down."

"When you say connected, you really mean that the cult and the Wolfram and Hart set them up as a handy diversion, right?"

Spike was silent for a moment, and she could hear Dana in the background telling him to calm down. Dawn actually smiled, despite the seriousness of the moment. When Spike did get back on the line his voice sounded very forced. "You know, when you were still just a bratty little kid you weren't that bad. But now you're a know-it-all."

"Spike, Spike. You taught me that part, remember?"

"Yeah, I do. Okay, let's talk shop for a bit, huh? You can't go to Denver. That's a world of bad."

"Why?"

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because if I told you you'd just rush in anyway, convinced you were saving everything, and make a royal mess of it."

"Spike, if whatever you're going to tell me is going to make me want to run in there anyway… why should I take your word for it that I need to stay away?"

"I know you're not big on trusting me these days—especially since I kind of threw Faith to the wolves—but I assure you, I care about Faith. I would never do anything to endanger her. Or her baby. Okay?"

"Spike… she's one of ours. We protect our own. It's what we do. Can you just level with me?"

"Argh! This would be so much easier if Angel weren't such a sneaky bastard."

"That's… the most ironic thing I've ever heard you say." Spike's inability to be honest with them had put them in this bind, where trusting him could be disastrous, and not trusting him could be worse. Where they could abandon Faith on his say-so, and hope he knew what he was doing, or they could protect their own, as they ought, and hope he didn't know what he was doing.

Given his spotty track record, they couldn't just trust Spike. Ever. He had been right at least once, recently, but he had been wrong at least once, recently. In the long run? The words 'Spike's plans' seemed synonymous with 'screwed,' to Dawn.

"No, really! He's just sore about the Shanshu thing, of course, and how I was turned human. Can't say I blame him. But he won't let me have access to the most important prophecies—which means I have to track it all down independently. And that's tricky, okay? Look, let's compromise. There's an airport a few hours outside Denver. A government airstrip, actually. I can be there about the same time you get there, if I speed. A lot. Land there. Meet me there. I can explain this to you. We can go to Africa together!"

"Spike… every moment counts, now."

"No! The bad guys weren't ready for Denver. It'll take them a while to mobilize."

"No, it won't."

"Please, please, please. Dawnie. We can take the jet in, be in Denver instantly, if I can't talk you into it!"

"Spike, please just tell me."

"You stubborn little wench… it's the prophecy, you see? You're messing around with it. And I know you don't realize how dangerous that is, but if you mess this one up, it's the end of the world. No going back."

"I read your copy prophecy cover to cover. So did Buffy."

"Did she read my journal?"

"Yes. Cover to cover."

"Well… ask Buffy. Ask her!"

Dawn put the phone down, turning to Buffy, who had been watching her. "Do we meet up with Spike, give him a chance to talk us into taking the prophecy his way?" she asked sarcastically.

Buffy nodded. "We can't risk being wrong. If he knows something, if he really does and he's not bluffing, we can't afford to risk it."

Dawn sighed. "Meet us there. I'll reroute the jets. You screw with me on this, Spike, try to hijack us, and I'll show you exactly how much stronger than a normal man a Slayer is. Got it?"

He let out a long, exaggerated sigh. "Dawn, sweetie, you just made my day. I'll see you there."

* * *

Angel was vaguely glad that the fight was over, since he was completely exhausted and couldn't move his left arm. But he still wanted to kill something, still wanted to eat something, and still couldn't look at Faith without his demon going nuts.

He stayed on the floor, trying to recover, while Xander patrolled the front door with the few vampires who were on their side. Faith was trying to find more weapons, since most of hers had been demolished in the fight.

Mostly by him, as he recalled.

Xander wandered over to him, looking pretty pale. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Cuz, you know, you got really into it."

"I have some rage issues to work out."

Xander nodded. "Yep. And killing a room full of bad guys, that's healthy. I like that."

Angel sighed. He was covered with acidic demon blood that burned his skin. All over. A stinging that wouldn't pass. He liked it. It took his mind off the hunger consuming him.

Xander sat down beside him. "You know you're scaring me, right?"

"I can smell that, yeah. Isn't helping."

Xander smiled, a bitter smile that really had nothing to do with where they were right now. "You know, back in the day I thought you were scary. Today, I found out. You really weren't faking it, weren't putting up a face. You never had to try to be badass."

"I tried hard not to be, actually."

"Yeah."

"So, an army of darkness is approaching?"

"Yeah, the guys out front saw a zombie horde descending, actually. Big one. It looks like they're congregating at the old church across the street, oddly, getting ready to rush us. Some of the vampires are nervous about working with you. Apparently your reputation precedes you. Some of them want to make for the other building, the one they call the Fortress, up on the hill. More weapons there, a secure base of operations—if it hasn't been compromised already."

"Hm."

"And, by the by, the troops are a little scared. There's word that you-know-who is headed this way."

"Voldemort?"

"Oh, god. You read those books? Now my life makes no sense. And, no. It's just that the vampires are afraid of Spike, remember? So he's like… no, I'm not going to explain it. It shouldn't have to be explained."

"Right. So Spike might come here? Terrific."

"Not so terrific. Apparently he's scared about some part of the prophecy."

Angel sighed, thinking about it. "There's a lot in there. The final battle, the choice, the … oh. I get it."

"What?"

"There's a bit in there about everybody dying. It's probably what has him nervous."

"Everybody dying?"

"Except Faith and I, apparently. Or Faith and you. It's fuzzy."

"Crap. I vote me."

"Yeah, whatever. Spike's headed here, and they're worried why?"

"Well, they were apparently hand-picked by Spike to die here. This is a suicide mission, and their only out is if they run away really fast and try to get out of ground zero—which is here. And Spike told them if they do that, their only out is to hide and never be found. And since they can't feed, that means they go eat rats somewhere. Or they die big as heroes."

"Wow. And I thought I treated my sidekicks poorly."

"Yeah. They're kinda split on what to do, but most of them are gonna run. No souls, right?"

"Right. Why would Spike come here?"

"Um… well. I don't know."

"Grr. Did he at least arrange it so Buffy and the Slayers wouldn't come running out here and all get killed?"

"Yes. That's what the vamps say anyway… I can't believe I have an army of vampires, an army of Spike's vampires, and I'm accepting their help!"

"Yeah. I know it."

* * *

Harmony and Connor were hidden away inside a ruined LA mansion, and while Connor read out loud, Harmony paniced.

There were no words for Harmony's panic. "I love him, you know. I say I've moved on, I pretend his words don't hurt, but it has always been all about him, and it always will!"

Connor didn't even try to relax her. He just kept reading doggedly. "It's not looking good."

"There was supposed to be a loophole! We were supposed to find something to save the day. _Deus ex machina_! The machine, the plot twist, the plan B that comes back! That's what good guys do, right?"

"There's more stuff in here about the Mother of the World. And… the missing page isn't here either. It's been excised."

"Maybe we're wrong. Maybe Angel doesn't have that page of the prophecy either! Maybe it was somebody else, trying to keep us in the dark."

"Yeah, right." There was an edge to Connor's voice, an angry edge. He didn't like being jerked around by his father. He thought they were past that point.

"Spike is so stupid. Spike is so stupid." Harmony was really losing it. "When we fought the fake him, the vampire done up to look like him, that felt bad. I drank Spike's blood! You can't imagine what that was like. I enjoyed it so much… and I hated myself. It was probably the most thinking and feeling I ever did in my life. So, soul! All better, right? Only now he's leaving. Gone. Dying! Just like everybody else."

"We can fix this."

"No, we can't!"

"Sh! There's more stuff here we didn't have before."

"But not the missing page?"

"No, not the missing page. But stuff." Connor dropped the book on the desk. "I'm not sure what to make of all this. I'm not an expert. Most days I could call Giles and get a second opinion, or Dawn, or Spike. Angel, even. Not today. I feel over my head."

"Hey, this is your schtick!"

"No, it's not." His face was stony. "My schtick is schizophrenia and violence. This is just something I'm trying out for fun."

"Connor, Spike is depending on you. His life is in your hands!" Harmony knelt, leaning over so that she was looking Connor in the eyes. "You know how important that is."

Connor sighed, leaning down and picking the book back up. "We should split up. We're going to need you in England when Faith gets through this."

"I thought we decided I wouldn't be going near the pregnant Slayer?"

"That's changed now. If this is half as bad as I think, she's going to need somebody there who… somebody who can relate."

Harmony wilted. "Somebody who won't be you, you mean?"

"I have to get to Africa. There's no other way."

"I thought Spike vetoed that plan."

"He did. Based on this stuff… I wish we'd never come here."

"What? With all we found out?"

"Bad memories here. They've rebuilt it, and it doesn't even look like it did when I faced off with dad and Vail and all those… but this place has history. I hate this place, and I hate what we just learned."

"Okay. Now what?"

Connor rubbed his hands together. "I'll take these books with me to Africa. You go to England. We're not part of this."

"What about what we learned?"

"Nothing dad doesn't already know, I suspect. Nothing Spike doesn't know. We just have to be around to pick up the pieces."

* * *

Angel checked both directions, keeping the broadsword close. Sunrise was soon, which meant that the zombies would hopefully be disoriented. Although the sun didn't incapacitate them as much as it did vampires their power was still dark in nature. Like most demons, even if it didn't kill them daylight weakened them drastically. It hurt him too, but he was used to the pain.

He couldn't see anything out and about. He stepped forward, blending into the darkness. A shadow that floated through the darkened streets, a sharp, glinting sword in his hand and a pale smudge of a face the only visible signs he was there.

Darla had taught him stealth to catch humans unawares, so that he wouldn't have to chase them down. He hadn't used it that way, though. He'd preferred their screams, their struggle.

Spike had never liked stealth either, as he recalled.

There were no snipers stationed around here. Zombies, vampires, creatures of the night, they just didn't think like that. It took all the fun out of the kill. They really wanted to get up close and personal with you, wanted to really taste that blood.

Angel knew. Oh, he knew.

He set a hard pace, not even looking back at the ever-smaller band behind them. He didn't want to see them, didn't want to know. He especially didn't want to see or smell Xander or Faith, who looked more like food with every step he took.

His day couldn't possibly get any worse.

Then the fates had to prove him wrong.

"Hi, Angel." The demon rippled as it stepped out the shadows, going from so stealthy even he couldn't see it to so real and there that he couldn't help seeing so fast that he was sure reality had been bent. "Long time no see."

Angel exhaled slowly. "Do I know you?"

"Back in the day we hung together, once or twice. Look, I'm just here for the girl. Don't get in my way."

Angel jumped forward, swinging the sword wildly.

A few swings, a chop, a couple hits to the face, and the demon was down. Angel's knee was throbbing. And Faith had caught up.

"Angel, you okay?" She sounded worried. Even the sound of her voice made him want her blood.

"Fine." He stood and walked on.

The Fortress was a squat, ugly concrete building with lots of windows. With bars. There were two vampires still with them. One of them scurried up and put a code into a keypad beside the door, then hesitated. "I do want to help," he apologized. "But I'd like to live."

"Go," said Angel, pointing.

He knew what was coming, anyway.

* * *

Spike's note to Nina was shorter than she had expected. She opened it up, taking a deep breath.

'Feeling second string? Second best? Get used to that feeling. As second best to Angel, I know it all too well.'

It was a good start. It insulted Nina horribly and almost made her throw the note away, while at the same time giving her an insight into Spike. It certainly helped her understand Angel's odd attitude towards the former vampire.

She continued reading.

'If you're still reading, congrats. You're more mature than his last three bints put together. Of course, none of that makes a whit of difference now. You know what an apocalypse is? It's something your loved ones don't come back from.'

She had to blink back a sudden angry growl that tore out of her throat as the wolf came out a little bit.

'Angel's not coming back, love. He's going to die. It's written in prophecy.'

She squeezed her eyes shut. She had been afraid of this, afraid it would come to this.

She opened them again, determined to finish it.

'Nobody knows what's going to happen at zero hour, only that only two will survive. Three, if you count the baby-bomb. But Angel's definitely not going to. No loop-holes, no plan B.'

She gritted her teeth. How long had Angel known this? How long had Spike known? Why hadn't they told anybody?

'Well, there is a plan B. A very good one, in fact.'

She read on, and the feeling in the pit of her stomach got harder and scarier. When she was sure she understood everything she tore his letter up, throwing it on the ground.

Then she let the wolf out, tearing through her restraints with a scream of fury.


	15. Icecold blood

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 15: Ice-cold blood

* * *

When Dawn's plane landed Spike was standing out in broad daylight, staring up at the sun. The other two jets behind her were landing on different runways, meaning that she and Buffy got a moment alone with Spike.

That was kind of good, she supposed.

They exited the plane and headed for him, moving quickly. His usual retinue wasn't around, which was good.

He smiled at the sun as they approached. "You know, girls, I think this is going to be a good day."

Dawn crossed her arms. "Don't you even start being cryptic on my butt, Spike, or I will get medieval on yours. You got me?"

"Oh, scary-Dawnie today? Cool. I was getting sick of whiney-Dawnie," replied Spike. He was playing with a lighter in his right hand, spinning it around and flicking it open and shut. "You know, moments like this, confrontational moments, these are the times when I wished I still smoked."

Dawn took a deep breath. She knew he was pushing her, trying to keep her off balance so that it would be easier to manipulate her. And even if it was for her own good, in his eyes, it bothered her. "Come on, Spike. Be straight with me."

Spike eyed Buffy for a second. "Okay, Bit. The prophecy about the Mother of the World includes a page that has been torn out of every version I've looked at. I've been scrambling to find out what's missing, but I think Angel already knows. Oh, and the one I have, that you don't have, says that during the battle to come everybody around the Mother will die, except for one of her warriors. That means either Angel, or Xander. Not both, just one. And everyone else who goes to Denver."

"I thought you were going to Denver?" asked Dawn quickly, trying to find the hole in his story. Spike laughed.

"Yeah, right. I was staying as far away as possible, until you started bringing folks in. You're bound to get them killed. I'm not having that on my conscience."

Dawn thought about it for a minute. "And the reason you didn't spill this before…?"

"Same reason it's a bad idea now." He put the lighter away, glaring into her eyes. "Go ahead. Prove me wrong. Take your planes and go to Africa. Run away. I want to see it."

She squared her shoulders. "You know we're not going to. We go where the bad things are. It's what we do, Spike."

"That's why I was careful to arrange an incident in Africa, make sure there were bad things down there. Do you know how long it took me to start a cult dedicated to making evil male Slayers? For some reason the demons kept figuring out it would blow up in their faces. Regardless! There's evil down there, festering evil. I made sure of it. And up here there's a destruction like the world has never seen. Come on! I leveled with you. Go on, get out of here!"

"Just not happening," said Dawn, as sweetly as she could. A vague threat that a prophecy said they would all die if they went wasn't strong enough.

He sighed. "Yeah, I know. That's why I implemented plan B. While we've been talking Dana and Blue have been disabling your three little jets—and none of us are leaving this airport. I took the liberty of building a spell-trap and locking this place down entirely."

Buffy didn't immediately leap forward and tear him in half, so he supposed they were at least conflicted by the new information, and the lengths he was going to in order to protect them. He, of course, had never known when to stop, and had to push a little more. "I hope you appreciate the gravity of what you've done, not going to Africa. If I weren't stuck here I could go help, maybe figure out a way to save Angel and Xander! As it stands, my odds are on Angel surviving. Congrats. You killed Xander."

Buffy hit him then, rushing forward and punching him, knocking him to the ground.

* * *

Angel was patrolling.

For Xander and Faith this meant they sat there, in the middle of the concrete fortress, cleaning and sorting their weapons, while various monsters outside screamed in pain and died.

The sun was up, which should have meant Angel couldn't do much. Xander was really amazed at how much the vampire was doing in the shadows, in indirect sunlight, and even occasionally while smoking.

Faith had dark circles under her eyes, and she yawned. "Geez. I napped most of yesterday away anyway. Used to be I could go for a lot longer than this without sleep."

"Well, you're sleeping for two now, right?"

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

"Well, I'm the dumbest… no, wait a minute."

She laughed. "You nut."

He was glad at least one of them wasn't completely freaked out. Of course, he hadn't told her what Angel had told him so briefly, that either he or Angel was probably going to die, according to prophecy. Of course, he had very little faith in those these days. Given that prophecy had said Buffy would die. And that hadn't turned out as advertised.

Well, the first time.

Still, he wanted very much to be the one to live. It would really suck to die now, when he was still pretty young, very much in love, and about to become a father. On the other hand, Angel was sort of a Champion, wasn't he? Destined to keep Xander's child from destroying the world?

That really, really sucked. Especially if the real upshot was that Angel would end up being a better father to Xander's kid than Xander.

Yep. That sucked.

There was an explosion outside. The entire building rocked, just a little, and Xander moved to the door, holding the stake-gun. Nothing came in after a minute.

"Relax," said Faith. "That was probably just Angel dealing with a whole bunch of zombies all at once."

"Or a whole bunch of zombies dealing with Angel, right?"

She stared at the door, but didn't movie.

* * *

Angel tore the head off a zombie and threw it into a group of them, bowling them over. He wasn't feeling up to a bowling quip so he just roared, leaping forward and knocking the rest over, wading into them with fists and feet and teeth.

When he was done he spat and rubbed his mouth on his coat sleeve. Zombies tasted terrible.

His cell phone had been ringing for five minutes now. He was ignoring it, letting it signal his presence to the zombies and anyone else out there stupid enough to mess with him.

When he looked up Lindsey was crouching on the nearest doorstep, watching him. Angel snarled at him before forcing his game face back. "What do you want?"

"Actually, I really need you to answer your phone," replied Lindsey. "Seriously, sometimes it's hard to try and point you in the right direction. Very hard. I don't even know why I bother. If I'd known redemption was such a drag I would have just gone to hell."

"Been there. No joy." Angel recovered his broadsword from the zombie he'd cut in half with it, and checked the blade. It was nicked and dull now, from the workout he'd been giving it. "How come there's nobody in Denver?"

"Well, apparently your boy Spike evacuated the city last night. Something about a terror attack? It was smart, whatever it was. Answer the freaking phone, Angel."

"I don't follow your orders. Schmuck."

Lindsey rolled his eyes, standing up. "Yeah, that's mature. Real mature. You don't like me, so the world can go hang?"

Angel moved closer, stabbing the sword through Lindsey's incorporeal chest. The phantom flinched, moving back into the shadows.

"Listen to me. I have been having a very bad day. Very recently I realized that I'm not even going to live through this, and it was the most cheering thing I'd heard in a long time. And I'm pretty sure Spike was hiding that from me, and I thought about calling him to thank him. So when I say I don't care what you think… you better believe I mean it."

Lindsey grimaced. "Okay, you're suicidal. I can accept that. I'd be too, if I had a face like yours. Ha! That's a joke. You can laugh. Seriously, just answer the phone?"

Angel tried to push the ringing to the back of his head. "You… you're trying to confuse me. You were always good at that. I'm not listening. Not to you, not to whoever is on the line trying to confuse me."

"Angel… just answer the phone."

"No."

Lindsey threw his hands in the air, scowling at Angel. "You know what? You like the big dramatic exit, don't you? Well, tough! If you don't pick up that phone you'll never get it. Because your pal Spike is wrong about the prophecies, and so are you! And if you'd pick up that phone, you'd learn a thing or two. A thing or two that might just rock your world, Angel!"

Angel stared at him, clearly affected by the words, but trying hard to look like he didn't care. Finally he lowered the sword and took out his phone, opening it up silently.

"At last!" yelled Spike. "Look, I've got three plane's full of Slayers here, and they're going to kill me."

"Good for you. What do you want?" When Angel looked up Lindsey was gone, which infuriated him.

"Look, I've trapped the Slayers here, with me. They were going to go get caught in your whole ball of fire deal, and I knew you wouldn't like that. But now I can't get there, and I wanted to be there, because I know you're hiding something from me."

"What?"

"Oh, come on! Every single copy of that prophecy I get my hands on has a page missing, and you think I wouldn't notice? Same page, every time. I know you know what it says, and I need to know. I'd hoped to be able to do something about it, but now I can't. I even had Connor raid Cyvus Vail's place and try to find out from his prophecies, but the page was missing there too! You're nothing if not thorough."

Angel sat down, trying to stay focused. "Which page were you missing?"

"The one after that bit about the Mother of the World and ball of fire. By the by, I think it shook Connor up some that you might die. Tried to keep your prophesied doom a secret, but it wouldn't keep."

"The page after that is the stuff about destroying the world and my role in preventing it."

"Liar! Don't you try it on me, I'm not so easily… you don't know? I wish I'd known that before I tossed your place. Oh, well."

"You…tossed my place?"

"Somebody's hiding something from you."

Angel took a deep breath, looking around. "I was just warned by a higher power that you were wrong, and that I don't get my big dramatic exit here."

"Now I really wish I was there, you know? Of course, I didn't leave any way to turn off this spell-trap anytime soon, because then the Slayers would just find it. Crap!"

"Trapped yourself with your own paranoia, huh?"

"Yeah, who'da thunk? Oh, double-crap! I gave your girlfriend some instructions on how to help you out, but they were mostly just to keep her busy and out of your way—sent her to England, actually. That's where Faith needs to be to have her baby. Because Giles still has better security than me. And that's when she'll be vulnerable."

"Right."

"So I sent everybody on wild goose chases and you don't actually have all the answers. You know what, you suck!"

"Thanks for the reminder."

"Stay calm. I can call up—no, wait, I can't. He's in the air right now, over the ocean, and cell service really sucks out there. But when he hits Africa we can get an update. No, stay calm, dammit!"

"I am calm!"

"Not you, the Slayers who are about to throttle me! They arrested me and stuff, and want to torture me to find out how to get out of the spell-trap I put up. Ha! I totally can't tell them, because there is no way out. Um. So, stay well." Spike then hung up on him.

Angel stared at the cell phone.

Those few things in his life which made sense were being stripped away, one at a time. His role as Champion had been challenged so many times that now he wasn't even sure what the right thing was.

And he was so very, very hungry.

He looked out into the sunshine that was visible from his vantage point in the shadows. It was tempting, so tempting, to take a walk out there, to see what the sun looked like one last time.

He rose to his feet, and headed back for the fortress.

He had a damsel in distress to check up on.

* * *

"They have Spike down there. Our Spike."

Illyria ignored Dana's slightly off-cadence words. She was busy with the shovel, trying to dig her way out under the magical shield Spike had built to trap the Slayers.

Illyria didn't like walls. They were a human thing, something entirely too containing. She liked open spaces and wild, chaotic nature. Walls and buildings were just nests, places humans made their own and made tame.

Illyria liked the wild.

"I don't like it. I mean, he's ours. Not theirs. We should take him back."

Illyria wished that she could tell the girl to be quiet. Of course, she had no convenient excuse right now. Since Dana was speaking silently, using their telepathic connection, it was unlikely to cause them to be discovered. And Illyria knew telling the girl to be quiet without a good excuse would just cause more questions.

Questions she was singularly unequipped to deal with.

She knew that Spike had intended the two of them to help each other. Their connection wasn't just for Illyria's benefit. She was supposed to teach Dana what she had learned about this world from Spike, the ways of human interaction, and the ways of human emotions.

While Spike had taught her much about human interaction, and colloquial phrases, and contractions, the ways of human emotions were still very hard for her to grasp.

If daytime television had taught her anything, it was that any sort of love ought to lead to sex, the ickiest and worst of all human interactions. Yet Spike and Dana remained chaste. This caused Illyria all sorts of thoughts, most of which made Dana very uncomfortable.

Why?

Sometimes Illyria thought that this human existence was hell. Then, of course, Spike would hug her, or praise her, or in some other way affirm their friendship and bond which was all very confusing to her. And at the same time was so powerful.

She had been the master of countless slaves and armies that would have gone to their death for love of her. Yet they didn't seem to matter, in retrospect. She had felt no connection to them at all.

For Spike, she would die.

And that was more confusing and more outlandish than anything else. More confusing than the sympathy she felt for Dana, than the camaraderie she felt with Connor, than the respect she had for Angel.

At the same time she knew that these feelings for Spike that she had were entirely platonic, thanks to her connection with Dana. She knew very well now exactly what lustful, carnal thoughts about Spike were like.

Very icky.

So she glared at the girl. "Spike will be fine. Spike is always fine. He gave us a job to do, and that's what we have to do now."

* * *

Dawn simmered. "We have the most powerful witch on earth on our side… but no way to contact her? That seriously needs some thinking about."

Buffy was reading again, only this time it wasn't one of the prophecy books. Dawn liked that better. Every time one of the Slayers started reading prophecies bad things started happening. Andrew called it a jinx. Dawn subscribed to a simpler theory. One insulting to females not of the brunette persuasion.

Pettiness was part of her job. In fact, it was pretty much a prerequisite.

"You could try what's left of the coven," said Buffy neutrally.

"No good. It would take them at least a week—they're slow movers. By that time this magic field will have burned out. What amazes me is that Spike was able to do this. He's not really the world's best wizard—in fact, he ranks pretty low. This is big stuff."

"It's canned magic," said Buffy. "He bought it."

"You're being awfully calm about this!"

"I'm trying to figure out a way to save Xander. I'm being focused, not calm."

Dawn let out a long breath. "Yeah. I hear you."

"We could go interrogate Spike some more?" Buffy didn't sound too hopeful.

"I still don't like the idea of letting him place calls!" simmered Dawn, trying to keep her anger down. Spike was her friend, after all. It wasn't right to get too upset with him.

* * *

Faith watched Angel slink in, and wondered if he even realized any more how far over the edge he'd gotten. Xander stepped into the hall, checking both ways like a good little soldier.

She hated it when Xander was a soldier, when those wide shoulders were so tense, when his eyes were more interested in watching for danger than in watching her.

Angel sat down heavily. "We're in a lot of trouble, again."

Xander sighed. "What now?"

"The city is deserted, and I can't figure a way out."

"I thought we were supposed to make a heroic last stand?"

"Now we have more information. Things have gone downhill."

Faith scowled. Even with a nap in her and a little patience she still wasn't up to their phrases that made so little sense and their bickering. "What do you mean?"

Angel glared at Xander for a minute before turning to her. "The prophecy, the one about your child. It says that you're only leaving here with one of us."

She glared at him, a flat, hard glare. "You're saying somebody's going to die."

"According to Spike, everybody's going to die. Except you, and one person. But I just found out that ever copy of the prophecy has a page missing—somebody who had access to all the copies took it out."

She thought about that, not letting her eye contact with him waver. He looked away, uncomfortable, as she connected the dots. "But they left the rest of the prophecy—which brought us here. Which means this is probably what they want."

"Yeah, pretty much."

Faith grinned at Angel. "Aw, you're upset? What, did you plan to be the one who went down in a blaze of glory? The big heroic end?"

He scowled at her, trying to keep himself from moving. He didn't want to move. He didn't want to get up, stalk over to her and break her neck. He didn't want to feed from her.

And maybe if he kept telling himself that it would be true.

"I have to do something. I have to bring an end to this. I'm not the good Champion you think I am."

"And I'm not the innocent little girl you think I am. How about that, huh?"

"You're not like me, Faith."

"The hell I'm not! You think I don't want things I shouldn't? Want to kill people, maybe? Want to die, sometimes? But you and me, we both know. This fight, why do we do it? Why do we fight? Why do we wake up every day and throw the finger out at an ever-harsher, ever-meaner world that doesn't like us, doesn't trust us, and loves to throw our faults at us? It's because of people like Buffy, people like Xander, people like Nina. You know that. Who'll protect her when you're gone?"

She could see on his face that her words were hurting him. She pressed on. "You're supposed to save my child, too. That's in the prophecy. You think dying in a blaze of glory will do that? Angel! I'm making you this kid's godfather. If you aren't there, I'm gonna be mad."

"I don't… I don't have a great track record with kids."

"Yeah? I don't have a great track record with men, either. But here we are. Me and Xander. Beating the odds every minute of every day." Her voice was so hoarse now that she could barely force the words out. "You think you're a monster, but when I look at you, all I see is the man who would let me kill him before he would kill me. All I see is the man who died for the world, and then came back. All I see is the man who's been at my side, fighting the badguys with me, every day. You saved me! You can throw your own failures in your own face till the world ends, but that's one thing nobody can ever take from you. Not even you! You saved me! I'll never forget that, and I never want you to forget it."

Xander shifted uncomfortably. "Not to break up this very sweet, tender, touching and gag-worthy moment, but I think somebody's coming."

Angel stood up. "Tonight we'll try leaving the city. Get moving. Maybe we can find an airplane, head for Africa. That's where Giles and Connor will be, with all the other Slayers. It may be time to get some help with the prophecy."

Faith grinned, a relieved, happy grin.


	16. Always about him

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 16: Always all about him

* * *

Spike was pacing nervously in the makeshift cell, which was actually a very nice room in a very nice hotel. The Slayers who had been picked to watch the former vampire were nervous, standing at attention by the window and waiting.

And Spike was nervous.

Dawn closed the door behind Buffy, watching him. "Troubles?"

"I've screwed this all up," he replied defensively. His blue eyes were swiveling, not focusing on anything while he tried to think of some way out. "I thought Angel knew what he was doing, and I gave him space to work with it. I thought he was cutting me off. I was okay with that. Now I've cut him off—maybe literally."

Dawn crossed her arms. She wished she wasn't wearing jeans just then. It was more practical, when they were going into battle. Jeans and flat shoes. Leading by example, here. Besides, she didn't have any superpowers to make a stiletto heel a deadly weapon.

But if she were wearing a knee-length business-like skirt, she would have felt older. More intimidating.

Spike was one of the few people left who could make her feel like a little kid again, and she hated him for it.

"You can solve that if you can just get us out of this trap and let us help Faith." She wanted him to comply. Needed it.

He stopped pacing and crossed his arms, mirroring her stance. "Yeah, but here's the thing. I outsmarted myself there too. I didn't give myself an out on the stupid spell, meaning there's no way for any of us to leave."

"Where's Dana and your god-friend, then?" asked Buffy.

"Hiding. Just in case."

Dawn snorted. "Hiding?"

Buffy cleared her throat. "Dare I ask what message I gave Nina for you?"

Dawn spun around and stared at Buffy. "You've been aiding and abetting?"

"That was two steps ago, when we were still mildly amused by his antics and thought he might know something," said Buffy, shrinking back a little bit. "I thought it might help!"

"Dog-girl needed to be a part of this," replied Spike. "If she lets the animal win, then she can't ever be the kind of person who could stay with Angel. If she's an observer, she's out. This battle, she has to fight."

Dawn rolled her eyes, turning back to Spike and pointing a finger at him. "Don't you get me started! You run around the world and play at being a hero, but in the end you're just gumming up the works."

He grinned broadly at her. "See, that's why it's important that I do what I do. You don't even see the need for it, don't see why I go out there, why I fight! You don't see that what I do, I really do for you. Not for me; for you."

That floored her for a second, and she just stared at him. At the leather duster that was too new, at the dye that was a few days too old and needed reapplying. She wondered if he had been tempted to change his look when he'd been able to see himself in a mirror.

"Right." She tried to put on her meanest face. "You always leave yourself an out, Spike. Always."

"No, I don't. Not here, when I knew you would use that out against me. Besides, the part about everybody in Denver dying except for Faith and one of her blokes—that's still valid, near as I can tell! So I wouldn't let you out of here even if I did have an out, even with everything turning sideways. This is Angel's problem."

Dawn squared her shoulders. "It's not, you know. You think of yourself as the meddling one, the one who always runs in and saves the day, but that's always been our job. Not yours."

He shrugged. "Not today, Nibblet. Besides, you save everybody else. I don't save the day; I just save you."

* * *

Nina wasn't sure exactly how long it took her to get out of LA. She was blacking out just a little bit every now and then, little patches of the day disappearing.

It would scare her, usually, to know the beast, the monster under her skin, was so close.

Today it was kind of reassuring.

Spike's instructions to her were pretty vague, on the whole. 'Escape.' 'Get to England.' It was as if he couldn't be bothered to help her.

Or maybe he was being vague because he was in a hurry. Or because there were dangerous things out there that he was trying to protect her from. Or, possibly, because he was just trying to keep her distracted and out of Angel's way.

It was infuriating that she didn't know Spike well enough to have any idea which explanation might be the truth.

* * *

There was a time and a place for everything, Xander told himself.

And if the time had come now to gut a demon with a sword, then he just hoped he was up to it.

Angel was leading the way, holding a broadsword. He'd given Xander a short sword, which was currently in a very cool sheathe on Xander's back, while Xander kept the stake-gun out in front.

Faith was following him. Or he hoped Faith was following him. She was being very quiet, and he didn't dare look back behind him, not when they were walking through a city that by all accounts was now filled with demons and undead.

They crept through the dark streets silently. In a way that was totally not clichéd.

Angel came to a stop and raised a hand. Xander nearly jumped when Faith put a hand on his shoulder.

"What is it?" she whispered.

It was at times like this that Xander really, really loved having a superwoman for a girlfriend.

Angel shook his head. "They're guarding the buses that are still intact, the train station, and the airport. Looks like they don't like the idea of us sneaking out."

"So, we break something?" asked Faith hopefully.

"Yep." Angel checked the blade of his sword, running his thumb down it critically. "There's a parking garage over there. We'll take the first car we find with a full gas tank… er, the first full-sized car we find with a full gas tank, that is."

"Right."

"I'll go in, distract them. You follow me, start checking the cars and covering my back. Got it?"

Faith sighed. "Angel, Angel… which one of us is the hero, here?"

"Me."

"Learn to share."

Xander would have giggled if he wasn't so busy trying to figure out if his crossbow needed reloading. He hadn't really had a chance to use it, but he knew he wouldn't be very good with it. One eye meant no depth perception. No depth perception meant no quick way to estimate how far the target was. That meant he had no idea how much the shot would sag before it got to its destination.

Unless the target was close. And if they're that close, you're already dead.

He lowered the tip of the crossbow. Angel was already jogging away, towards the parking garage. "Faith… I love you."

"I love you too." She always sounded so awkward when she said it, as if she was afraid he would make fun of her for it. He wondered why that was, why she was so afraid of saying it.

He didn't care. That she could say it all was an amazing thing to him.

"Let Angel do the heroics today, okay? You can always do heroics later. I think he needs the violence just now."

She let out a long sigh. "Yeah, yeah."

They followed Angel.

* * *

Africa wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Connor wasn't sure why the Slayers were mad at him. Why he had been punched in the face and dragged over to Giles, who was staring at him stonily. Or why several of the girls were glaring daggers at him.

"Uh, hi. I was hoping to get some help with some translations from you guys." It was harder to talk than he thought with a tiny girl that barely came up to his chest holding on to his neck.

"Connor. Dare I hope you did not come alone?"

"No, I came alone. What's happening?" That was pathetic. His voice was squeaky now, and just because she had her hands around his throat.

"Well, Spike tricked us. And Angel, I think. And we're just a little bit on edge, what with the huge battle we just had to fight that Spike revealed he arranged."

"Some of us got hurt!" snarled the tiny girl holding Connor's neck.

Connor shrugged a little bit. "Well, I'm just a pawn in their grand game of –urk!" Those hands always surprised him. They were strong, too strong. Stronger than a vampire. Sometimes he wondered if a Slayer was stronger than him—he was stronger than most vampires.

He knew he could beat up most Slayers, just because he was fast and had all that brutal training from a hell dimension so terrible it had driven him to insanity. Or had that been the man who raised him? Either way, it had shaped him.

Angel had rescued him from that, fortunately. These days Connor couldn't even blame him.

Giles leaned in closer. "Now, we're too far away to help Faith, and Spike has pinned down Buffy and her Slayers. This puts me into…how to put it… Rage. That's a good word for this situation. Now, let's try this again. What're you doing here?"

The Slayer released her grip on his neck, and Connor took a deep breath. He was trying not to stare down her neckline, which, given their height differences, was quite a view. It might make her mad, and he was surrounded. "I've gained some new information about what's going on, but I'm having trouble figuring it all out. I'd hoped you could help."

Giles glowered at him. "And dare I hope that this new information will help us get Faith out of the path of danger?"

Connor shrugged. "That's the part I need your help with."

Giles gave a long-suffering sigh. "Release him. I suppose we'll have to let him show us."

Connor smiled at the Slayer as she released the grip. He'd told his father he was dating a Slayer, but that was only half true. He'd gone out on a handful of dates with a Slayer on Spike's orders, to infiltrate their organization.

However, when opportunity knocks, you answer, don't you?"

"You have a pretty strong grip there," he said, turning the old family charm on full-blast. Quiet voice, dark brooding look… there were some perks to the family name.

The girl gave him a hard look. Apparently she'd heard about his family. Right.

Connor picked up the duffel bag he'd been carrying with him. "Spike and I were trying to keep on top of this whole thing, and dad wasn't being helpful. Spike was the one who figured out that somebody was excising portions of the prophecy from all available texts, but he assumed dad was doing it. To keep us from finding out just what was happening."

"And Angel had no idea what was happening?"

"Nope, none. And, worse, it looks like he's heading for a certain death—or Xander is."

Giles swallowed hard, his hands tightening down into white-knuckled fists. "And Faith?"

"Oh, she's the safest one. Nobody'll be laying a hand on Faith. Of course, her kid is going to have the power to destroy the universe—or make things better. No telling which the kid will do, of course."

"Oh, naturally." Giles looked bemused.

Connor sat down, looking around the room. "Does this place have air conditioning or anything?"

"Fans," said Giles. "You were saying?"

"Huh? Oh, right. The missing page. I think something crucial is missing, and I'm not sure exactly who would take it out."

"Well." Giles took a deep breath. "This is, you see, a magical problem. No doubt they used magic to excise that page, and the thing about magic is that we happen to have on our side the most powerful witch of the last ten centuries. Now… getting in touch with her can be problematic, as she's currently trying to solve the problem of world hunger and create world peace. In a non-threatening and non-invasive way."

Connor smiled. "Yeah, Spike mentioned that. He thought it was hilarious. Very Wiccan. She's looking at a dead end right now, by the way.

Giles gave him an annoyed look. "Show me the passage."

Connor opened the duffel back. Some of the Slayers moved closer, as if they expected him to begin a suicidal one-man attack against a roomful of Slayers. No, he wasn't quite that stupid… today.

He reached in and pulled out a handful of books. "Now, keep in mind that I didn't get the most complete text in here until just recently, when I raided an old enemy's stronghold. The only help I've had deciphering this is Harmony."

"Er… quite." Giles took the book from Connor carefully, opening it up. "Yes, I believe we have a copy of this."

"Yeah, we had a look at your copy. It's missing the page too."

"You… had a look?" Giles stared at Connor for a minute, his expression quite hard. Connor hadn't asked, and their library was closed. Locked down. Guarded. "I see."

Connor shrugged. "Well, it's not like you guard your libraries!" Very well, anyway. "And, let's be honest, how would you go about keeping Spike out? I don't even know! And I work with him all the time!" In retrospect, he should have let them look at their own prophecy without telling them he'd already seen it. Now their trust for him was entirely gone.

Fun, fun.

Giles sighed, taking his glasses off and wiping them. "So, what parts of the prophecy do you have a good idea about?"

"Let's start here, on page five hundred and sixty-three. The Mother. It's a good place to jump in."

* * *

Xander was on his back again. It was like a punchline to a joke, only he couldn't remember any of the words anymore.

He struggled to bring the crossbow around to bear on the vampire on top of him, but she wasn't having any of it. She had a deathgrip on the crossbow and another on his throat.

And top things off, she was wearing clothes that he wouldn't have been caught dead in. Fashion that had been dead since the sixties. Maybe it was a retro thing.

Faith kicked the vampire off him. "Come on, get up and get moving!"

Xander tried to pull himself to his feet and failed. "Little help here," he croaked, curling up into a ball. "Ow, ow, ow!"

Faith grabbed him and hauled him to his feet, spinning around to punch another approaching demon in the face, sending it flying. Xander wasn't absolutely sure, but he thought she was a little stronger than usual. He'd seen her hit demons that large before, and usually it just knocked them down.

Not that he was complaining, of course.

Angel came running back, carrying his sword in one hand and a tire iron in the other hand. "We need to go up a level; there's nothing worth taking here. And there's a bunch of demons."

"Come on," growled Faith, pushing Xander towards the up ramp. Everybody else was running, and he had a stitch in his side and couldn't breathe.

It was just going to be one of those days, he decided.

* * *

Illyria and Dana simply walked into the building through the front door, not even bothering to try to hide their presence any longer. The Slayers stepped back and let them through, then followed them in, forming a half circle around them.

Spike was sitting crosslegged on the floor scribbling in a notebook while Dawn tried to interrogate him. He scrambled to his feet when the blue goddess and the Slayer walked in, and smiled. It was a genuine smile, something that was so very odd on his face.

Buffy stood up. She'd been behind Spike, sitting in the window and looking outward. "It'll be okay, girls. I doubt we're going to have a fight now."

Spike gave both girls a bear hug, grabbing one with each arm. "Aw, no fighting? Take all the fun out of my life."

Illyria waited until he let go to give him the bad news. "Your shield is failing. Very shortly the Slayers will be free to move on to Denver and take control of the situation, and possibly all die."

Spike nodded. "I know."

"Then it's time for us to be going to Africa," said Illyria pointedly.

Spike frowned. "I thought we had agreed on England?"

Illyria shook her head. "It's bad enough that you humans reproduce through a means so vile I will not speak of it. Your young come to you in the form of pink raisins who spit up goo on you worse than the vilest acid of the demons you kill every day and stay in that form. We will visit the child once it has grown too old to defecate in its own clothes."

Dana sighed. "But babies are cute!"

Illrya gave her a haughty and condescending look. "We have a world to save, and no time for little snot-machines."

Spike rolled his eyes. "One thing at a time." He turned to face Dawn. "Is it going to be a problem, me running off into the sunset? Are you going to commit Slayers to Denver and let them all die? What's the deal?"

Dawn thought about it for a minute. "I'm really hating you today," she said finally. "All difficult choices and nightmarish accusations."

Buffy snorted. "Yeah, that's Spike. Guys, can you all give Dawn and I a second?"

As the others filed out dutifully Dana hesitated, clearly wanting to stay, but Spike swept her along with him, grabbing her around the waist.

Buffy frowned, watching them go. "It is weird on every level that he ended up with a Slayer."

"Yeah. I have no idea what to do next. You have something?"

"A lot of somethings, actually." Buffy sat back down carefully, folding her hands together. "First off, it's not entirely impossible that Faith doesn't need us. She has Angel and Xander. And even if one of them is fated to die, I don't think charging in would change that."

"Yeah, that had crossed my mind."

"On the other hand, Xander and I excel at beating bad prophecies."

"Go, you."

Buffy smiled. "Basically, it's a Catch-22. We go in and we cause the catastrophe. We stay out and we can't prevent it. Of course, I don't have the patience for games like this."

"Yeah. We have people on the ground in Africa, and Giles said they pretty much have that under control. So what do we do? I don't want to demobilize."

Buffy shrugged. "I've been trying to listen to Spike—hear what he has to say. Last time around we didn't hear what he was saying—or what he wasn't saying. I don't want to make those mistakes this time. But I can't hear much from him."

"No. He rarely makes all the sense I'd like."

"Well, he speaks his own language." Buffy rubbed her forehead. "So, do you have Faith's cell phone number?"

"No. After she went into hiding we lost contact just about completely. She's called us a few times—she has our number, after all. Other than that, nothing."

"Well. Basically, if she calls for help I'm ready to go in swinging. If she doesn't, I don't want to endanger her by running in. And I think that somebody ought to go with Spike, keep an eye on him, try to pump him for information."

"That was supposed to be Dana's job."

"Yeah, but her loyalty shifted just a little bit somewhere in there."

Dawn frowned. "So, here we are, having a very grown-up discussion of what to do next. Don't you just hate our lives sometime?"

"I swear, this crisis gets over I'm going to find a beach somewhere and spend all my time ogling hot young thangs."

"Okay. Sounds good. We'll do that. Just you, me, and Andy."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "And, again, you force maturity into my dream fantasy where I'm allowed to be immature. Thanks."

* * *

There was a down-side to being a messenger boy for the higher powers. Not only were they always going over Lindsey's head and giving him stupid errands but now he had to deal with Angel.

And on a distressingly regular basis.

He sat there and watched Angel brawl with a group of zombies, vampires and demons, and chuckled. "Oh, I should sell tickets to this."

Cordelia, who was sitting beside him, smacked him in the back of the head instantly. "This is tragedy, not comedy, imbecile."

"The fat carpenter isn't going to make it, is he?" Cordelia hit him again. "What? I would have thought you'd be rooting for him to lose, since that means your boy gets to live!"

"For starters, I used to date Xander. Or … something. It was complicated. Anyway, I'm not really looking forward to seeing either one of them die. Who wrote that prophecy, anyway?"

"Oh, the usual. Some meddler who could see the future and thought he could change it. Then he found out that certain fates are in stone."

"You mean set in stone, right?"

"Well, that's one way to put it." He watched Cordelia, smirking slightly. This was his favorite time of all. When she was losing hope. "So, what lesson am I supposed to learn now? What crazy, wacky, but inspirational epiphany should I glean from this?"

"Well, if I were you I'd be thinking about an upcoming performance review and how well you've done achieving the goals I outlined for you when I hired you. Namely, how well our Champion is doing."

"What am I supposed to do about it?"

"Well, I gave you a list of options. It's pretty clear that if he keeps on this way, receiving these visions, he's going to go insane or die. They're too much. I knew that, by the way. You haven't eased them, and you haven't given him a Seer. Frankly, you're handling this badly."

Lindsey shrugged. "Well, you've got me there. My heart is really not in this work. I mean, if you'd sent me out on any other job, I'd be all over it! Babies! I can save babies! I'm all about kindness to children. And old people! But Angel? That's my weak spot, my Achilles hell, the one guy I can't stand!"

Cordelia smiled. "And you really think it's just a coincidence that this is the job we gave you?"

Lindsey scowled at her. "A test of how well I can do good to my worst enemy? This job sucks."

"Yeah, well. Do a better job or go to hell… literally. Your choice."


	17. Drama Queen

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 17: Drama queen

* * *

There weren't very many graceful ways to kill a zombie, no matter how easy the movies made it seem.

Although that wasn't quite right. Generally the movies made it look pretty hard to kill them, even if the hero or heroine would manage to accomplish it gracefully.

Xander shot another one in the head with the crossbow. It didn't stop them, or even slow them down very much, but it generally knocked them back and away from Faith, which gave her a second of breathing time to hit someone else.

He spun around, trying to keep up a steady stream of shots. More than half his shots were going wild, not helping at all. He blamed most of it on the eyepatch, which was unfair. He hadn't been the greatest shot before losing his depth perception.

But it was a good excuse.

Faith did a sweeping spin, kicking a zombie through a window. She looked at her greatest now, in action. At times like this Xander wasn't sure whether he should feel awed and intimidated or turned on.

Come to think of it, those weren't necessarily conflicting urges.

Angel came roaring at them in a convertible. Xander stared at him, scowling. "This is your escape vehicle? What about a van, or an RV, or something I can sleep in! This won't even keep the sun out in the daytime! I would think that part would concern you just a little bit."

"Shut up and get in!" growled Angel.

Faith hopped in the back, glaring at the zombies around them that were still lurching and shuffling closer. She hurled her weapon at one, knocking it down. "In, Xander!"

He stumbled and flung himself into the front seat, collapsing as Angel peeled out, burning rubber as he plowed through the zombies around them, heading back down the ramp they'd just fought their way up.

Xander struggled to seat himself, only now realizing that he'd lost his bag of weapons. He checked the crossbow, which was empty, and tossed it over the side. "Nice. Very nice."

Faith pulled him upright and stayed in that awkward position, leaning forward over the seat with her arms around his shoulders. "See, we're leaving Denver and everybody's alive. That's good."

* * *

Spike was pacing again, gnawing on a thumbnail absently. "You know, there are good ideas, and bad ideas. This was not one of the good ones."

Illyria was on the floor, crosslegged, examining the entrails of the goat they'd stolen from a pet story. "Angel and Xander are both still alive, according to the goat."

Dana was hiding in the bathroom. She poked her head out, into the rest of the hotel room. "Can't you warn me next time, before you kill the goat? Then maybe I won't start to love him and bond with him before you kill him."

Illyria scowled at her. "It's a goat. Not even a cute one, like the one in Toronto."

Dana let out a wail, fleeing back into the bathroom.

"Don't bait her, love," said Spike, taking his lighter out of his pocket and flipping it from hand to hand. "A day like today, I wish I smoked again."

Illyria smiled. "Perhaps you should comfort your girlfriend."

"Don't bait me either; I'm not in the mood." He tried to use the lighter, flicking the wheel a few times. But it was out of fluid, and had been for a long time. It sparked, but produced no flame.

He let out a long, aggrieved sigh. "The score stands at bad guys ten, us zero."

"Perhaps it's time to tell the Slayers everything, and let them try to help out."

"No, we're still caught in a bind there too. We could tell them, but the prophecy says every single person who stands with Faith will die, except for one, single, solitary person. And that's going to be Xander or Angel. I can't get around that, and I've been stuck on that since the start. I tried isolating them, but that didn't work. I tried putting them in an empty city, evacuating it and all, but that didn't work. The RV plan didn't work. Nothing worked!"

Illyria nodded. "And the Slayers will certainly stand with Faith if we tell them we know where she is."

"Yeah. And I'm just not sending a bunch of Slayers to their deaths. Let Connor distract them, let Africa distract them, let the end of the world distract them."

"It's reckless to start an apocalypse just to contain them."

"They can handle it."

"Hm."

Dana entered the room, holding up a hand to avoid seeing the grisly mess Illyria had made with the goat. "Are we going to tell Faith that she's in trouble? Because I think we should."

Spike shrugged, taking out his cell phone. "Can't hurt for her to know some of what we know. I do wish I knew what the rest of those stupid prophecies said. If there's something in there about a way to stop this, say."

"Hopefully Connor can figure that all out," said Illyria, poking into the entrails some more. "Hmm. I see he will be having 'girl troubles' soon. A shame. A Slayer girl-friend will almost certainly break him in half."

Spike hit the speed-dial button, and held the phone to his ear. "With my luck, they'll have lost the phone. Or be out where they have no coverage. Or…oh, hello, Faith!"

"Spike?" Her raspy voice was further broken up by the static of the phone. "Why are you calling me?"

He was very happy that he had her number. It was a sign of trust, after all—a level of trust she hadn't even extended to Buffy, who didn't have this number. Not that Faith had a choice. Spike had already put a homing beacon in her cell phone, and one night, under cover of darkness, implanted one in Xander's glass eye. He wasn't leaving anything to chance these days.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that we've unearthed some new stuff, love. Bad stuff, of course. Where are you?"

She was silent for a long moment, and he could hear voices arguing in the background. His two greatest fans, he thought. Even the sarcasm didn't help his temper. "Tell the bloody Backstreet boys to pipe down. Where are you, and where are you going? Because Africa is out. You'll get people killed. I have a nest all set in London, for you to give birth safely. Far from the demon hordes that you've pretty much crippled. And I need to know where you are because Riley and his boys are ready to head in and kill everything evil in Denver if you're out."

"We're out," replied Faith. "Level it, for all we care. You haven't been being completely straight with us, have you?"

He sighed. "Story of my life, unlife, and life again. Can I talk to Angel?"

There was a rustling noise, and then that stoic and heroic voice said hello. Spike grunted his displeasure. "Well, Angel. Here we are again."

"There are things I need to know."

"I figured. First of all, I don't know how to fix it so that you're the one to die instead of Xander. I figured that was your priority."

"Uh… yeah."

"Secondly, I don't know when D-Day is."

"Right."

"Thirdly, and most importantly, I still don't know what they're trying to hide from us."

"Okay, you haven't been able to research that prophecy at all?" Angel sounded annoyed.

"I have people looking into it. Just get to England—the old warehouse you and I used as a hideout when we first met up."

"What? Why on earth would you pick a place like that?" Angel sounded really upset.

"Because it's like a fortress. You have to get over the things you've done and move on to the things you need to do, okay?"

Angel was silent for a moment. Then he sighed, and the connection was gone.

* * *

Angel was napping in the back seat, under a blanket, while Faith drove. Xander was still a little jumpy, but he was finally starting to get calm enough to think about how long they'd have to be holed up in England with the jumpy vampire before the baby would be born.

"Are you sure you can handle a couple months of not running around fighting stuff?" he asked Faith cautiously, glancing at her stomach.

She was starting to really show, now. He wasn't sure what was normal or not, but he was pretty sure that she wasn't that far along. If Willow were here he could just ask her. Of course, she wasn't. She rarely had time for him or Buffy any more. And it hardly mattered, because Willow really didn't like Faith. She tried, a lot, but she really had trouble seeing why Xander was with Faith.

Of course, she had been even worse about Anya, and they'd gotten through that. Xander had high hopes.

"Doesn't sound like I have a choice," muttered Faith. "Spike figured everything out again, good for him."

"I thought you were on his side?"

"Oh, yeah. Except when he has stupid ideas."

"So you're not really okay with lying low."

"No, never have been."

Xander sighed. "Well. I suppose we could always take up a new hobby. Like guns. That could be fun."

She did laugh, so that was something.

* * *

Connor was on a date with a Slayer when Willow arrived. This might have been okay, even given their rocky relationship in the past, except that when she swept in the door and saw him she immediately spoke.

"Ah, Angel's curiously androgynous son."

He glared at her. That was all. A little look, nothing more.

He kept forgetting that while he and Spike shared laughs about her wacky Wiccan ways and both were secretly scared to death of her, the Slayers held her in very high regard. She had, after all, empowered them all.

So that was why a glare at Willow earned him a knee in the nuts.

While he tried to catch his breath Willow laughed, which he thought was particularly heartless. Then she hugged his attacker, and made a suggestive comment that he completely missed, what with the pain and all.

She moved over to him. "Why are you hanging out in the café with a Slayer?"

"It seemed like the thing to do. Ugh!" He straightened up, forcing himself not to wince, and looked her in the eye. "Just fly in?"

"Ah-hah. A witch joke. How droll."

"I meant by airplane, actually."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Yeah, I just got in. Giles said to find you first, round you up so you could be there when I look at the books."

She was pretty. He'd always had a soft spot for red-heads. Why did she have to be so sharp-tongued and down-right knee-inducing? And why was it that pretty girls were always causing him pain? A little heartache was fine, but he was talking about real, honest-to-God PAIN.

He managed to grin. "Yeah, let's hit those books."

He followed her out of the deserted café and back into the hotel they were all staying at. Just then he was pretty sure he hated Spike. Sure, learning about the prophecy was important, but ninety percent of this was just stalling the Slayers, keeping them here while Spike and Angel fought the real war.

And it wasn't Spike's nuts on the line.

Giles was waiting for them, all the books they had arranged in a semi-circle on the tables that he had set up. Ethan was there too, sprawled in an easy chair reading a glossy magazine.

"What's he doing here still?" asked Willow suspiciously.

"He's under house arrest, or some such," replied Giles. "We really can't let him go… and killing him seemed just a little too extreme to some of the Slayers."

Ethan smiled. "I think some of them were charmed by my bad-boy ways and my accent. What dolts."

Willow scowled, while Connor just grinned. He couldn't help himself. "Hey, let him stay. It's more dangerous to his nuts here, right?"

Everybody looked at him as if he was crazy, except Willow, who had been there, after all. Ethan frowned. "I'm hardly the cradle-robbing sort… well, I mean, if it was an extremely ATTRACTIVE cradle, I suppose, …."

Willow cleared her throat. "These are the books?"

Giles gestured at them. "Every single copy we could get our hands on, every one edited."

She moved over them, raising her hands over the books and closing her eyes. "Wow, that's some seriously bad mojo right there."

Connor sat down very gingerly. "The best we could do was narrowing it down to a …"

"Quiet now!" responded Willow. Connor snapped his mouth shut, attempting not to glare at her. That might be more dangerous.

There was a rustling as the pages on the books began to flip and flap, and Connor grimaced, looking away. Magic like this reminded him of other times, of more dangerous spells.

Unhappy times, for the most part.

Willow lowered her hands, her eyes fluttering open slowly. "Wow. Whoever did this knew I was coming, and totally planned for it. That's dark magic, and if I go into that stuff it'll stick to me like… crumbs on Xander."

Connor groaned. "They booby-trapped it just for you? Great. Wonderful."

Willow's eyes twitched around the room to Ethan, who was reading still. "Of course, there is at least one Mage in this room who really wouldn't mind dark magic wrapping itself around his tonsils, isn't there?"

Ethan glared at her over the top of the magazine. "Go bugger yourself. I'm not helping."

"Did you know I skinned a man alive once?" asked Willow sweetly.

Ethan leapt to his feet. "Let's do it! For queen and country!"

Willow smiled. "All righty, then."

Her eyes turned black as she stared at Ethan, and he twitched. His hands swung out, jerkily, as if of their own accord, and he made a squealing noise as he held his hands out, over the books.

There was a dark crackling, and sparks flew off the pages. Then Ethan fell to the ground, whining, and Willow's eyes returned to normal.

"That was… interesting," she said, sounding a little bit shaken.

Connor stood up slowly, approaching her. "What is it?"

"Well, for starters, whoever has been doing this has access to a lot of power. And I mean a lot." She looked troubled. "I've gone toe to toe with some of the most fantastic and incredible dark mages out there, and I've never seen anything like that."

Ethan rose to his feet very slowly. "I have."

Willow glared at him. "Where? Your silly god of Chaos?"

"No, worse. Much, much worse." He rubbed his throat contemplatively, swallowing quickly. "I'm going to need a drink."

Giles let out a long breath. "What did you see, Ethan?"

Ethan glared at Giles. "Let me have a drink and I'll tell you, all right? I need a drink after seeing that." He headed towards the stairs, sighing and running a hand through his hair.

Connor thought about that for a second. "Hey, he's going to try to run away now."

"What?" Giles gave him an odd look. "Why?"

Connor shrugged. "Gut feeling. Besides, this dude just saw something that scared him. He knows we're going to go up against it."

Connor moved away, following Ethan, who had reached the top of the stairs and glanced back. When he saw Connor approaching the stairs he spun around and began sprinting for the windows.

Connor took off running, jumping the entire flight of stairs with a roar. He could hear Slayers behind him screaming, surprised by his abilities.

Well, let them scream. He had some fun tricks up his sleeve.

Ethan smashed out the end window with a chair, glancing back with feverish eyes. "I have to get out of here!" he pleaded, diving through the window and out onto the rooftop.

Connor sprinted after him. The Slayers were fast, but not as fast as him.

And besides, if you really wanted somebody caught, you sent somebody scary after them.

Connor could do scary.

Ethan had barely made it to the far end of the next roof when Connor caught up with him, grabbed him and hurled him down onto his hands and knees. "What's the matter, a little afraid of the big evil?"

Ethan was panting for breath. "You have no idea how bad this is!"

Connor shrugged. "Let's just go back and take this one step at a time, okay? If you really don't want to be with us we can send you back to jail, after all."

* * *

Angel listed to Faith breathe while she slept, quiet, even breaths. He could hear her heart beating, and the tiny twin heart-beat of her child.

Having to be this near to her was torture. Every second his bloodlust grew a little bit more, and all the bloodbanks they'd raided between here and Denver hadn't eased that, not even a little.

He hated himself so much he thought he might just kill himself before all of this was over. A walk into the sunlight. A wild fight with Spike. Anything.

He'd felt this way before. After Fred had died, when he'd had to face his owns demons—Angelus aside—without her help, or Cordy's help. When he had been alone, except for people he was starting to hate.

He wasn't alone now, but it felt just as bad.

Xander was driving, which was more than a little scary. They were almost to an airport, and Angel had plans to fly to England, obeying Spike's stupid orders. Orders that would trap him with Faith for the next few months.

A few months of losing his mind.

He clenched down his jaw, trying to drive his wild lusts out of his head. He didn't need her blood. He wasn't going to kill his friend. He wasn't just a monster.

He wished he could believe any of that.


	18. Karmic Quality

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 18: Karmic quality

* * *

Arriving in Africa was very much like arriving anywhere else. Dana wanted to hide, Illyria wanted people to cower, and Spike just wanted to stand in the sun.

That it was a bright sun shining down on a rolling landscape with beautiful trees and exotic animals didn't really make a difference to any of them. That everybody around them was foreign, moving in strange ways and speaking strange tongues, didn't faze them. They were used to the people around them acting oddly anyway. Or maybe they were just so alien that no matter where they went the people were odd to them.

Spike had a smile on his face. It was almost impossible to be grumpy after a night spent talking quietly with Dana, curled up beside each other on an airplane. He couldn't even remember half of what had been said.

Almost impossible. When he saw that Connor was being accompanied by Giles his smile faltered, and was finally replaced by his sarcastic smile, the one that could kill a minor demon from five or ten feet.

Connor wasn't smiling either. "Good news, bad news," he said. "We know who's been keeping parts of that prophecy out of the public eye."

Spike groaned. "That's the good news, right?"

"Right." Connor glanced to Giles. "By the by, Rupert here is angry at you."

That was easy to tell by the look on his face. Spike smirked at the older man. "Easy now, Ripper. There's good ways and bad ways to say hi, and that's not the good one."

Dana cleared her throat. "Who is it?"

Spike sighed. "Women. Always rushing to the point, not taking the time to taunt… who is it, Connor?"

Connor squirmed. "It looks like the Powers That Be are the ones doing this."

Spike scowled at him. "You know, contractually, you're supposed to let me do the big reveals."

"Well, you can tell Angel!" said Connor.

Dana laughed. "You just like your big reveal moments, when you can dramatically make yourself seem smarter than other people."

Spike shrugged. "Is there something wrong with that? By the by, Ripper, speaking of big reveals, you did know that—"

"That prophecy had been tampered with, that there's a prophecy either Angel or Xander will die, or that Faith's child will have the power to save or destroy the world? Or is there something else you're keeping from us to feed your ego?" Giles looked positively furious.

Spike shrugged. "Well, now I'm offended. I'm not telling. Nyah."

* * *

Xander wasn't quite sure what was most wrong about driving up to a British house on a hill, surrounded by trees, in the middle of the night with one vampire driving and another standing at the door to greet them.

Maybe it was the way the rearview mirrors TOTALLY didn't work right at times like this. Maybe it was the lack of depth perception as he stared down at the map and tried to figure out where they were.

Maybe it was because none of the vampires had souls, unlike the one in the back.

Yeah, that might be it.

Angel got out quickly through the back doors before the van was even off, scoping the place out. "I can't believe Spike bought up a safe house we used when we were evil!" he griped.

The vampire who was waiting at the front door looked very athletic. That is, he had wide shoulders and a gun. That usually got Xander's attention.

Faith was curled up in the seat beside Xander. He hated having to wake her up when he hadn't seen her sleep this peacefully in such a long time. "Hey, Faith, we're here."

She grumbled, but got up, rubbing her face. "I had a dream. Strange dream… very vivid. Maybe a Slayer dream."

"What happened?"

"I got ice cream. With pickles. And there was a demon, but I couldn't see his face, and I was enjoying the ice cream anyway."

Xander led her into the house. Harmony was inside, directing a horde of vampires who were attempting to clean up the house. "No, no! All the blood goes out with you guys. Load it in coolers."

"Shouldn't we keep some here for me?" asked Angel, hovering in the doorway, acting like he hadn't been invited.

"Oh, Angel. Come on in… this is Spike's house, and he sent you a general invitation a while back. For you, we have special blood. Drugged and stuff, just to be on the safe side."

"Oh, how nice," said Angel sarcastically.

"Spike hand-picked all these vampires here today… they're all our least trust-worthy minions." She grinned. "And me, the most trustworthy."

Angel blinked. "I thought this was supposed to be a secret location."

She rolled her eyes. "You and I are going to privately interview the guys… old Dubya and Aitch style, you see… after they finish. Guys, are you done?"

One of them growled, and nodded.

"Line up, single file. Every one of you. Angel and I need to interview you all. Just come right into the study… don't worry, you'll all get your turn. The driver too! Faith, make sure none leave."

Faith blinked, confused. "Why?"

"We have to interview them," said Harmony, winking. Then she trudged away with Angel, bringing the first interviewee along with them. Angel had a very grim look on his face.

Xander and Faith exchanged confused looks, then went to bed.

And when they woke up, there were only souled vampires left in the house.

* * *

Spike sat in the sunlight, which seemed brighter than usual, and stared out at the early-morning world. He always loved this time of day, previously so lethal to him.

Dana was laying across his lap, curled into his stomach, with her head resting on his chest. At times like this she seemed very child-like, which was pretty messed up. Even for a dirty old, old, old man like him.

Of course, she would make him stop calling himself that if he said it out loud. Just one of those things she did.

God, he was so pathetic. Next he was gonna be holding her hand and buying her flowers. Well, screw that! He was the big bad! No little girl was gonna make him that soft.

No matter what.

Illyria was playing outside, chasing birds and trying to eat them. It helped her deal with the whole predator instinct. Spike had never told her it made her look like a big cat, but, hey, a guy had to amuse himself somehow.

Connor was somewhere behind him, reading a book and trying to flirt with a Slayer at the same time. He was pretty good at it—brooding and soulful, like his old man. With a healthy dash of bad boy, thanks to Spike.

Of course, that wasn't helping him here. All the Slayers had seen him pull his evil-vampire-parents mojo, and thought he was in league with Spike, who they saw as one step down from Satan.

Spike enjoyed that immensely.

Dawn was still off with Buffy, doing who-knows-what. It made him nervous that those two girls were off running all over America with an army of Slayers. Those girls didn't have a lot of common sense, not enough to just trust Spike. They didn't trust Spike at all.

Neither did Giles.

Speak of the devil, here he came, his face flushed. Spike wondered why the Watcher hadn't simply gone back to England, yet, the place where everything was happening.

Probably because he couldn't find Xander and Faith, and never would. And certainly didn't know they were in England. That might be it.

"Willow can't find Xander and Faith!" reported the Watcher. "No matter what spells she tries."

"I told you, I hid them away," drawled Spike. "Unless you'd like your enemies to find her just as easy as Willow would have…."

"You git!" snarled Giles. Dana stirred then, the insult bringing up all her impulses to defend Spike.

Spike put a hand on her head, soothing her. "I'm just trying to keep her safe. Having her easy to find wouldn't be what you wanted, right? Besides, you know anybody near her is going to die… unless Willow has had any more luck with that?"

"No, the prophecy is as guarded as ever. She's trying several covens and repositories of knowledge that we've used before… she's become quite the globe-trotter, these days. Running to and fro… much like you."

Spike grinned. "Yeah, I've heard that one before."

Giles frowned down at him, still trying to probe. Spike represented a lot of danger, especially to the Slayers he tried so hard to protect. Spike represented moral quandaries, questions that would get a Slayer killed in a fight against a vampire. Spike had also worked counter to Giles on so many occasions, even recently, that he could not be trusted.

Spike grinned, very proud of all that.

Giles spoke slowly. "You know, it disturbs me the way you jump from Slayer to Slayer… sleeping with them, obsessing about them… killing them, even."

Dana tensed up unhappily. Spike doubted that she believed any of that about him, even though she should have, seeing as it was all true. But the attack on him was too much.

Illyria had stopped chasing birds and was headed back towards them, a glower on her face. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

Spike held up a cautionary hand. "Careful, Giles. Make one of them nervous, it makes them both nervous… and Illyria would probably be the kinder of the two right now."

Giles glowered heavily. "Is that a threat?"

"More of a friendly threat than unfriendly, really."

"Spike, we need to know where Faith is! It's a matter of protecting her!"

Spike shrugged, lifting his cell phone out of a pocket. "Hey, I'll call her, let her talk to you, even, but there will be no telling. None at all. I've gone to extreme measures…including killing two dozen of my own staff…to ensure that her whereabouts are not known to anybody except me and Harm. I haven't even told Dana and Illyria, beyond telling them what country she's in… and you know that much, don't you? Thanks to Connor's big mouth. But he can't tell you any more." He doubted Connor had given away too much--and hopefully had given them the wrong country, but Spike wasn't sure.

Illyria walked right up to Giles, glaring at him. He looked back, just a little bit nervous.

Spike dialed. "Besides, if I told you, how long would it be till that greasy rat Rayne figured it out? I don't think you trust him to keep his mouth shut any more than I do."

"We should just kill him," muttered Giles. "Too many young girls with delicate consciences' running about."

Dana shrugged. "You have an old and hard conscience, but you can hardly ask us to abandon our own for you."

Spike laughed. "And she's on my dirty work squad! What does that say about you, Rupert?"

Giles glowered at him. "Quite. Are we all done laughing, or shall we talk to Faith now?"

"She's not answering," sighed Spike, closing the phone. "Now I have to worry about what she's doing."

* * *

Xander stuffed another pillow on top of the phone, trying desperately to keep Faith from hearing it. She was having a conversation with Harmony, which he would normally discourage. But she appeared to be having fun.

He was definitely not going to let whoever was calling spoil that.

They were talking about babies, of all things. Faith was being all girly and stuff… with Harmony. A vampire.

"I definitely don't want to overdo it," said Faith. He could barely hear her.

Angel was sitting on the couch, trying to read. He glared up at Xander. "What are you doing?"

Xander shook his head, letting out a sigh of relief as the cell phone stopped ringing. "It was Spike, I think. And he always has bad news."

Angel made a harrumphing noise, then went back to reading. Xander sighed, sinking down into the cushions. Harmony was talking about diapers. He was glad he was in here, and not out there. "At least you've been through some of this baby stuff, right? I mean, you're not going to be a total stranger to the diapers."

"What makes you think I'll live that long?" asked Angel quietly, dangerously.

"Well, you have to. You know, to save her. To keep her from growing up to destroy the world. According to prophecy. Idiot."

"Maybe I can guide her with my death. A sacrificial death. You know, one of those things."

"Big idiot." Xander didn't want to deal with a suicidal vampire. Especially not when he was pretty sure he should be rooting for Angel to die so that he could live. It just wasn't emotionally healthy.

Angel ignored him, flipping a page in the book.

Xander twiddled his thumbs. "So, is there a TV anywhere here? Computer? Playstation?"

"There's one book. One. That's all," replied Angel, very evenly. Too evenly. "I suggest you find something else to occupy yourself. Maybe a game of twenty questions."

Xander crossed his arms. "You want to start some trouble?"

Angel gave him a hard look. "You must be mistaking me for some other vampire. One with a chip in her head that makes it impossible for her to hurt you. Because I assure you, soul or no soul, I could break your legs and never feel a SECOND of remorse."

Xander glowered at him. "Oh, you think it would be that easy? I have years, years of experience in fighting creatures of the night."

Angel grinned. "How does that stack up against my experience at being a creature of the night? Shut up."

"See, that's my point!" replied Xander quickly. "You could protect my daughter! I can't. We both know that. So, really, you need to be the one to live."

"Shut up."

"I'm serious. You think I want to die? I definitely do not. Totally. But if I have to die to keep my little unborn child from turning evil and destroying the world, I'm there. I am so there."

Angel shook his head. "You don't get it. You've NEVER got it. Do you have any idea how close I am to snapping? I've been riding the edge forever, since Spike brought me back to life. Why do you think I chose to go out with a big bang in the first place? I was in a place where I could fight on futilely for a long time against impossible odds, or I could just step in and end it all with a big bang. And you know what? It was getting harder, even then. Even without a pregnant Slayer bringing out the worst in me! I'm a monster, and I come so close to killing everyone I know every day. Every day!"

Xander just stared while the vampire ranted. "If I stick around, I'll kill your kid. And Faith too. I know it! I can't hold on to my sanity much longer like this; I can't stay this way forever. In fact, if I should happen to survive, I'm going to have to take a walk in the sunlight."

"This sounds awfully familiar," muttered Xander. "I thought you got over this?"

"Faith pulled me back from the edge, but the real underlying problems haven't gone away. And they won't. Why do you think the promise of humanity was such a draw to me for so long? Because it's the only way I know to save the lives of everybody I know! Spike always threw Angelus in my face, trying to remind that I was really Angelus—that the soul changed so little. He was right! Angelus is always just a second away."

Xander considered freaking out and running around the warehouse screaming. It sounded really appealing.

* * *

Spike waited till everybody had left to get dinner. He and Connor were alone for a minute, with nobody else listening. A very rare opportunity here. "I need you to bugger out, head for Norway. There's a group of rogue demon hunters there sympathetic to cause. Rally them up—I've got some phone numbers—and head for France. Wait there for the signal—once whatever's going happen goes down, it should be safe to head into England, pick up Faith, and head for our rendezvous. Or I may pick her up. Either way, it'll be the rendezvous."

"Why can't I wait in England?"

"I don't want to take chances. I have no idea how wide the swath of destruction will be. I'll try to cover for you here."

"And the prophecy? You know I'm a lot better with those things than you."

"I also know you're my most powerful ally. And most skilled. I need that more than I need to decode the conspiracy against Angel by his own allies."

"Do you think this big conspiracy is for our own good?"

"No. I've seen conspiracy in my day, and been involved in a fair number. I've even conspired for other people's good. This is different. Somebody is jerking Angel around, and I need to know why."

"But not as much as you need me in France?"

"Have a good time in France, kid. It may be your last chance for the next eighteen or so years."

"Eh?"

"This kid is going to be super-bad mojo, right? Prophecies that make you look like a kindergarten prophecy. I want you by that kid's side until… hm. Maybe eighteen is too early."

Connor sighed. "Games within puzzles within somebody else's game… Are you going to call dad? Give him a head's up?"

Spike smiled, a slightly lop-sided smile. "Problematic. Your dad is the world's foremost expert in the Powers That Be at this point. What will he do? I don't know. And he's in the death spiral now."

Connor's face fell. Spike actually felt a pang of conscience then, and cursed his soul. It was so bothersome at times like this, with hard choices to be made and even harder options in front of him. "I know, you'd like to solve this puzzle, break some heads and bring this back to sanity. But we can't! I can only let him do one thing at a time."

Which would probably lead to Angel's death. He had at least a fifty-fifty chance. Spike knew it, and Connor knew it. Busting some heads might save Angel's life.

But that might doom the world.

Some days, Spike hated being the good guy. Being evil was easier. Moral conundrum? Torture somebody until things got better! The other bad guy was stealing your girl? Team up with the Slayer, and try to kill him!

Connor looked up at Spike, and Spike could see the lie behind his eyes, the shifty look of a plan. "Okay."

Spike sighed. "You're going to tell him, huh? Put it all on his shoulders?" Sometimes he hated the world.

"I have to."

"All right, I'll do it, then. No need for you to go behind my back."

Spike took out his cell phone and dialed Angel's phone, hoping he'd forgotten to charge it again. The vampire could be so stodgy that way, still wishing he was in another time, when things were simpler.

Angel picked up the phone immediately. "Spike, I can't go with this plan!" he hissed.

"Whoa! Did you finally figure out Caller ID?" asked Spike, grinning at Connor.

"No, but you're the only one who ever calls. I need to get out of here!"

"Um, good news. We found out who's been tampering with the prophecy. It turns out… our backers are doing it!"

There was a long silence, and then Angel spoke. His voice was very soft. "You mean the PTB, right?"

"Right! Isn't that a kick in the pants?"

"Stay where you are. Keep Connor where you are. Don't go anywhere till I've had a chance to … sort things out."

Then Angel hung up.


	19. Conclusion

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 18: Conclusion

* * *

Angel found Xander and grabbed him, lifting him up off his feet. Xander let out a cry of fear, but Angel used his free hand to cover the carpenter's mouth, cutting him off before Faith could hear him.

"We have some serious problems," hissed Angel. "I just spoke to Spike, and I know what's going on. I know why everything went to hell. I need you to distract Faith—she can't be any part of what happens next."

Xander nodded, wondering if he should scream when Angel put him down. After what Angel had told him yesterday he was pretty sure that this sudden air of command and confidence was all Angelus.

Angel finally set Xander down, letting go of him. "I should have seen this coming. The clues were all there. The attitude. The snarkiness. The sheer wrongness."

"Yeah, whatever. You want me to distract Faith?"

"Now," replied the vampire.

Faith stormed into the room. "Why are we distracting me, exactly?"

Angel rolled his eyes. "Oh, god, I feel like Spike now."

Faith shook a hand at him. "You idiot! Do I have to protect you from yourself? I'm going with you."

He whirled into action, pushing Xander away and lunging at Faith, punching her in the face before she had time to react. She fell back to the ground, surprised, then jumped up, snapping a kick at him. He caught the leg.

"You're pregnant, slow, and not sleeping right," he said. "You really shouldn't even try." He pushed her back to the ground gently, and she just collapsed, staring at him blankly.

"Why?" she asked, trying to dig through his actions, trying to understand.

He shrugged. "Because there is just so much one man can take."

He walked out the door, letting the leather duster swirl behind him as he vanished into the night.

* * *

Connor didn't even need to be told he had screwed up, that they shouldn't have told Angel who was behind the editing of the prophecies. That was nice. Spike saved the time he would have spent browbeating the boy gathering the rest of his forces. Giles was understandably upset that they were leaving, while Dana tried to call a cab.

Connor just sat and brooded.

Spike was helping Illyria pack up the weapons she'd stolen from the Slayers while Giles was yelling, trying to get some answers. Spike ignored him, thinking furiously.

"What about Harmony?" asked Connor. "Couldn't she track Angel, maybe fight him?"

"She's come a long way, but not that far. I'm leaving her with Faith for now. That's the best place for her. What about your friend in France? The guy with the cape?"

"Useless in this kind of fight. What about the coven, in England?"

Spike chuckled. "Not good. Is Willow still about? We could probably use her to breach the dimensional fields and get to the plane where the PTBs rule."

Giles' face was turning red. "That is incredibly dangerous!" he yelled.

Spike turned to face him. "Angel is probably already there," he said coldly. "He's rushing into a battle he can't win against a foe who's supposed to be on his side. And if he's not around, Faith will die, her child will die, and the world will be destroyed. So, let me rephrase that slightly. Bring Willow in here!"

The order hung in the air for a second, and Giles stopped yelling, his eyes narrowing.

It was Spike's fault, really, for keeping Giles in the dark the way he had. It had been necessary. If Giles had realized what was going on he probably would have rushed into this just as foolishly, just as stupidly, as Angel had done.

All to protect his girls.

Giles folded his arms. "What's your plan?"

Spike sighed. "Here's the thing. You and your girls are especially vulnerable to these blokes. They hold all the cards. They have the power. They can just take away the power from your girls…make them ordinary girls again. Angel's power is demonic. They can't control that. So he has a chance… a tiny chance… with them. Same with Illyria. And Connor."

Giles sighed. "The true origins of the Slayer powers, Spike, do not lie with them."

"But your girls are instruments of light and goodness. These people are the zenith of that, the top dogs of good and holy stuff. You can't get in a fight with your own people. That's not good, or healthy."

"For Faith, we will," said Giles grimly.

Spike stared at him for a minute, obviously surprised, then grinned. "I always knew you had good sense and balls, Rupes, but I never realized just how much. Okay, get your girls ready. Call up America and get your strike force ready… I'll call Riley and his troops, let them know. We're going to war, Ripper."

* * *

Angel wondered just how hard it was to kill somebody who was immortal and unkillable. He knew it was possible, because Connor had managed to kill Jasmine. Because somebody had killed the two representatives of the Powers That Be he had always dealt with.

He was pretty sure that he'd avenged them, but his memories from that time were a little strained. Mostly because of Darla. That had pushed him so far…

If somebody had to join the Powers That Be, why not her? Hadn't she tried so hard? She would have fought for redemption. Why couldn't she have been their agent?

He hated the PTB so much.

He sat there in the bar nursing his drink, glaring around the room. Those few demons old enough to remember Angelus were keeping their distance.

Nobody here knew he had a soul, which was nice. That side of him had surfaced in America, and the only legacy he had here was the one he deserved. Nobody here had expectations that included him saving them all. Nobody here expected him to play hero.

Except the Slayers.

He downed another drink, still waiting. He wished he could get drunk and just start killing these people. Demons, humans, he didn't care. He just wanted to destroy, to tear somebody limb from limb.

He wasn't in a good place right now.

The demon he had approached earlier finally returned. "All right, me boss just has a few questions, and then we can get you all set up with the thing you wanted."

Angel sneered at him. "Questions? What kind of questions?"

The demon wriggled. He hadn't been around long enough to know the name Angelus, but he had very good instincts. He was playing it very cautious with this vampire. "Just some stuff to ensure our safety, you know. Where are you going, what will you do when you get there, that sort of thing."

"I'm going to go kill some people. I'm not sure where they are. That's why I need your magic, your artifacts." Angel glowered down at his drink. He knew most of the older players here in England, the ones who'd been around when he was evil. This place was one of them.

A place of old power, a place that could give him what he wanted. Just one clean shot at the PTB.

That was all he needed.

The demon squinted at him. "Okay, that's just a bit dangerous. We need specifics."

"There's a force for good out there, a balancing forth," said Angel softly. "The Powers That Be." The demon stiffened up. "They need to be put in their place, that's all."

"We're out," said the demon, standing.

Angel grinned, jumping up and grabbing the demon. "See, here's the thing. I don't remember asking if you were going to help me. I don't remember any nice requests." He smashed the demon's face into the table, shattering the table and spilling his drink. The blood spilled all over the floor. "I gave you an order, and you're disappointing me!"

The demon tried to break free. He was stronger than Angel, and could probably snap him in half in a fair fight.

Angel had no intentions of letting this fight be anywhere near fair.

Angel slammed a knee into the demon's soft stomach and pounded a fist into his kidneys. The demon coughed and tried to get away, but Angel had him by the ears now, the sensitive ears. He twisted hard, wrenching a scream out of the demon.

Everybody else was staring at them.

Angel knew he had to finish this before somebody had the bright idea of helping the demon. He hauled the demon to his feet. "Come on, this is a straightforward business deal. I've got the cash, and all I want is a one-way ticket. Can we do business, or not?"

The demon stared at him. "Yeah, sure. We can do business."

* * *

Buffy examined the map in front of her. "So, we've wiped out the demon hordes in Mexico, the vampire infestation in Canada, and most of the New York City demon population. What next for the Summers Strike Team?"

Dawn frowned, tapping a foot. "We're almost up to summer, which is generally the slow season. Spike once said he thought it was because most demons are cold-blooded, and can't stand the heat. We should let the girls have a vacation—a working vacation, natch. A vacation in a hot-spot. Like Cleveland."

"Aw, nuts."

"Yeah, yeah. No vacation in gay Paree this year, Buff."

Buffy sighed.

The phone rang.

Dawn snatched it up, checking the caller ID. "Aw, crap. Hi, Giles. What's the emergency?"

Buffy grabbed her cell phone, dialing the emergency number. "Gwen? Yeah, we have a Code Red. Get the girls together and ready to fly. No, I don't know yet. I'll call back with details. Yeah, thanks."

Dawn nodded, watching Buffy with a slightly uneasy smile. "We'll be there. Thanks." She hung up. "So, yeah, forget summer vacation. Angel's on the move, and we may have to jump dimensions and fight the Powers That Be to protect Faith. Reports are vague. The coven in England is preparing the proper spells to get us to the other side, but it'll be at least forty-eight hours. And Angel has a jump-start on us, apparently. He's gone missing… again."

Buffy frowned. "Forty-eight hours… if he knows a shortcut, we may be too late."

Dawn nodded. "We do what we can."

* * *

Riley hung up the phone. "That was Spike. I need all of our extra-dimensional portals locked down. Get the 301st ready to roll, and alert the vampire corps. I want all our allies online."

Sam frowned at him. "Honey, you could just say 'get ready.' I know what to do. Are you a little nervous?"

He shrugged. "Ok, a little. Spike said this one could be bad, but that he doesn't want to involve us unless he has to. Which means…"

"Really bad. Right."

* * *

Ethan Rayne considered his options. Briefly.

He discounted suicide immediately. The whole point of this was that he wanted to live. Besides, he'd led a horrible life. He had every reason to believe the afterlife would not be kind to him.

Escape would be nigh-unto impossible. He'd seen what the demon child could do. And now Spike and his unholy hordes were here, and from what Ethan could see, they were worse.

Which left cooperation, or fighting.

Cooperation was painless, for now. But later, when everybody learned about this, he would be completely screwed, stuck into helping them forever, fighting the good fight, to avoid retaliation from the bad guys.

Fighting would not be so painless. Not against Giles.

And he still had all his toes, currently.

The Slayer watching him popped her gum, making him jump.

That was the other thing. He was here surrounded by these annoying brats of goodness and light, these horrific monsters that he just couldn't stand. Actually, he had quite liked Buffy, but only when doing horrible things to her.

Like turning her into an Eighteenth century noblewoman.

He couldn't help the giggling now.

* * *

Angel stepped through the glowing blue portal nervously. This was just the sort of thing that was always getting him into trouble. Leaping into trouble without thinking it over.

Fortunately, this time, he was kind of hoping they would kill him.

He whistled to himself as he stepped through, smiling at the white-clad folks standing around the portal. They looked like bureaucrats, peering at him and mumbling. One of them even had papers in his hand, and was glaring at Angel.

"Office of champions?" he asked politely.

One of them pointed silently down a glowing white corridor. He headed that way, ignoring them.

Cordelia intercepted him halfway there. "Angel. How are you?" she asked, crossing her arms and trying to block the corridor. He spun her around with one hand on her shoulder and kept walking, drawing her along.

"Cordelia. Good to see you. I just thought I would drop by, visit you."

"Odd time for a visit. Need a little guidance? Lost your moral center or something?"

"Yeah, yeah. Exactly."

"Why are we walking fast?"

"Oh, no reason."

She was suspicious. Which was good, because any minute now she was going to figure things out, and then he was in trouble. "You never come around just to talk. In fact, you should never come here in the first place, since it breaks major rules. You might get killed just for being here."

"Yeah, I know. Still, what are friends for, right?"

There were office doors all around. This higher plane was starting to look suspiciously like Wolfram and Hart. He hated that. Compromise, deception.

He kicked down a door.

Cordelia grabbed his arm. "Angel, I have pull around here, but you can't just do this sort of thing."

He shook her off. "Relax, relax."

Lindsey was sitting behind the desk, glaring at him. "Angel. How are you?"

Angel didn't both with small talk. He had a single dagger in his coat pocket, but he didn't go for it yet, just jumping forward at Lindsey, over the desk, crashing into him and knocking him to the floor. A few hits had mussed up that perfect floppy hair, which was a good start.

Cordelia screamed, and gestured. Large glowing bands of energy wrapped around Angel's arms, hurling him away from Lindsey, slamming him into the opposite wall.

"What is going on?" demanded Cordelia.

"Oh, darlin," said Lindsey, grinning. "You have no idea."

He came up from behind the desk holding a sword that had been hidden back there. It glowed and crackled with dark energy.

Cordelia's jaw dropped. "You—you rat!" It didn't take her long at all to work out that he had been expecting Angel, and consequently, had good reason to expect Angel. Very good reason.

He swung a hand up, unleashing power that was definitely not friendly and fuzzy. It blasted Cordelia backwards, off her feet.

"I really should have been more suspicious," growled Angel. "Every time you get a second chance, every time somebody goes probing for goodness in you, you blow it. You always have. The truth is, you like what you do."

"A wise man once said, the difference between an evil man and a good man is that while the good man might sin occasionally, he's at least penitent. Or even if he's not sorry, he doesn't do it again. The evil man is the one who loves sin, and keeps coming back. Sorry, Angel, but you just bet on the wrong horse." This time Lindsey sent his blast of energy at Angel, who was immobilized.

At the last second Cordelia's bonds holding Angel evaporated, letting him fall out of the way. The energy slashed over his head, tearing through the wall.

Angel gathered himself for a charge, sparing a glance for Cordelia, who had been battered by that last attack. "You're a fool!" he yelled, jumping over the desk and ramming a shoulder into Lindsey, barely avoiding being run through on that sword.

Lindsey coughed, throwing him off. "A fool? I got into this place, didn't I? And I'm totally going to take your place once you're gone."

Cordelia came in swinging, knocking both of them off their feet with a blast of fire that knocked them into the wall behind the desk. "Men," she muttered. "All right, let's take a moment and talk about this. What are you doing, Lindsey?"

"Hostile takeover, darling, and it's done." He waved a hand, and the glow around her vanished, and he and Angel dropped to the ground. "Your superiors quite like the direction I'm taking this office, even if you don't. They love the idea of sacrificing a few souls to save the rest. And your friend here dies? That's icing on the cake for me."

"This is your idea of saving the world?" growled Angel, knocking Lindsey's sword away and grabbing him by the throat.

Lindsey shrugged, easily knocking Angel away. "You're pathetic, you know that? This was never about saving the world. It's always about power."

Angel lunged forward, scooping up Lindsey's sword, and ran the lawyer through. "You're just mad because I didn't face you in some epic battle last time!" the vampire growled, swinging Lindsey around and throwing him off the sword. Lindsey tumbled over the desk and came back up swinging, not even hindered a little by the gaping chest wound.

"You're right!" growled Lindsey. "It was supposed to be you and me, man to monster! One final, epic clash where I could get you! Finally finish you!"

Angel shrugged, whirling the sword around. Lindsey barely ducked under the blade as it headed right for his neck; Angel kicked him as he dodged.

The boot hit him firmly in the face, knocking him over backwards. Angel stabbed downward, impaling Lindsey and pinning him to the floor. Lindsey groaned, trying to get free. "Oh, stop that," said Angel. "I know you're not mortal any more; I'm just trying to get through your stupid defenses here so you can be fired."

Cordelia cleared her throat. "Actually, he won't be. I've been discussing this with the upstairs office for that last, oh, six seconds… he stays."

"What?" Angel was totally flummoxed. He had been counting on Cordelia to root the traitor out of their midst; counting on her new Higher Powers...

"Apparently he's been trying to kill you, but he's still been wildly effective. His plans will save the world…and Faith. I'm taking him off your case, and reassigning him. He'll be getting the orphans now."

Lindsey grinned, grabbing the sword and yanking it out of his chest. "Well, less opportunity to kill Angel, but still, this one was almost too easy!"

Angel punched Lindsey in the face, something he'd been wanting to do for a very long time. "Stick around, Cordy, I want to talk to you."

She danced from one foot to the other, looking just as peeved now as she'd been in life. That was a good sign. "What, you need to talk to me about something deep your new girlfriend wouldn't get?"

He sighed. "That's low. I need to talk about the prophecy, and Faith."

"Well, talk to your new caseworker, then!" she snapped. "Now, if you'll excuse me, we have a huge emergency. Apparently the largest rogue power in the history of the world is planning to come here and join us if we can't stop him."

"Rogue power?" Angel's eyes widened. "Who…" Then he figured it out, and his face fell. "You're talking about Spike."

Cordelia shrugged. "Not my fault the man can't pick a side. Have a nice ride home."

"Cordy—?"

But then Lindsey grabbed him, and threw him through the wall. Which had turned into a gleaming wall of energy at some point.

As he fell back to earth he realized that he was coming home without the answers he'd wanted so badly.

But he had got to hit Lindsey.

He was smiling when he hit the ground.


	20. Concussion

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 20: Concussion

* * *

Cordelia met Spike at the door, where he was waiting patiently, slouching beside the portal he'd come in on. She paused, surprised, looking around for the horde of allies she had expected.

"They aren't coming through, yet," said Spike, picking up on her discomfort. He eyed her neck, where he'd bitten her that one time.

"Wow. Could it possibly be that you've learned manners?" she asked bitingly.

He shrugged. "Not likely. But I do learn. Last time you showed up there was a lot of bright glowing mojo, and you turned out to be on the side of right and goodness all along, fighting different battles, but still in the fight. Now, if I were the suspicious sort I'd charge right in and try to fight you. But I make a rule of not attacking folks I suspect are in the same fight, just working at cross-purposes. Generally I let them go on as they are, and hope they do some good."

"Oh, very generous." She really didn't like Spike. First off, she'd met him a lot when he was evil. In a very bad way. So she hated him. Secondly, when she'd seen him last, he'd bit her. And not in the fun way. Finally, he annoyed Angel. And, above all else, she had Angel's back.

"See, you and I, we have a problem now." Spike sneered at her. "Angel already bugger out of here?"

"Yes, he did," she said shortly.

"What if I told you I had every Slayer on earth, almost two hundred vampires, a Hell Goddess, and a couple of very powerful witches ready to declare war on this dimension?"

She stared at him. "Oh my God. What happened to being on the same side?"

"That's the problem. Recently some of your actions have confused me—to the point I'm almost ready to attack you. Almost. Now, before you get all ballsy on me and start talking tough, hear me out. Somebody targeted Angel and tried to kill him. You know about that?"

"I just had a long conversation about it," she said through gritted teeth.

There was something predatory about Spike's smile. "Yeah, I figured. Angel has a way of making trouble like that. Thing is, there's this prophecy that you mucked with. I want that page of it, before I leave."

"I can't give you that."

His smile was definitely predatory. Cordelia knew he was human now—she had helped broker the deal that gave him that humanity. It had been a desperate gamble at the time—Angel had been sent to Hell, no redemption in sight, and dark forces were gathering around the Slayers. They had needed a Champion, even a former Champion who was all human now. They had needed him to return, to warn the Slayers. They had needed to put a Seer in play again.

He had, of course, screwed that up entirely. Instead of quietly helping out the good guys he had put together one of the scariest rogue organizations on the planet and destroyed an entire dimension, waging a one-man war on evil that was surprisingly effective. He was manipulative and ruthless, and even if his plans sucked, his heart was always firmly in the fight.

But that smile, pointed at her, reminded her how long he had been a vampire, and how successful he'd been at the job. He'd killed two Slayers, back in the day.

He scared her half to death.

"Allow me to be repetitive," he purred. "I am prepared, at this time, to shake the foundations of this world, to destroy this dimension, and to declare war on you. Now, think about that for second, then tell me why you can't give me that page."

"It would violate every agreement we have. We're not supposed to provide direct aid. If we can, so can the other side."

"Nice, but no cigar, kiddo. See, you're the ones who took it from us. It's not direct aid; it's simply no longer withholding information. Don't you have any lawyers to write that up in mumbo-jumbo?"

"That's the whole problem," she muttered. "I can't, Spike. I don't even have access to it any more."

He tilted his head to one side, as if listening to some voice she couldn't hear. "That's the whole problem, you say? You have a lawyer working for you? Oh, god. You have Lindsey working for you, and he's the one screwing with Angel, is that it?"

She stared at him. "That's quite a leap of logic," she said coolly, neither confirming or denying anything.

He shook his head. "I had clues. Big clues. Ugh." At least one of his clues had probably been given to him by Angel, who had known for some time now about Lindsey.

"Spike, you can't be here."

"I don't work for you lot."

"That's part of the reason you can't be here."

Spike sighed, shaking his head. "Tell Lindsey he needs to come have a chat with me, real bad."

"He's not in the Champion business any more."

"Neither am I."

Spike left quietly, which was the last thing she had expected.

* * *

Angel staggered back into the safe house, and Faith jumped up and hugged him before he could even sit down.

He wanted to pull away, but he just stood there and accepted the hug as graciously as he could. She was already uncomfortable with the idea of hugging him, and he didn't want to push her away.

Even if he was even more uncomfortable with the idea.

Xander had dozed off watching the door, and when Faith let go of Angel she nudged him, waking him up. He sat up with a snort, looking around in a panic for a moment.

"Just me," said Angel lightly.

"Did you get things sorted out?" asked Faith.

"Mostly," said Angel, sitting down. "I think the attempts on our lives might end—at least, from that source."

"What about the prophecy?" asked Xander.

Angel shrugged. "I don't put much stock in those, y'know."

* * *

Lindsey hated dealing with Spike. It made him feel less, somehow. Now he was a second-stringer to Angel's second-stringer.

Spike was sitting alone in a dark library, reading a book, when Lindsey floated in, trying to maximize the creepy vibe. Spike glanced up at him, and smiled. "You little bugger. Trying to kill Angel in your spare time, huh?"

"Yeah, a little," grumbled Lindsey.

"I've been there. I've been there." Spike tossed a hand up in the air, throwing the book away. "Now, then, to business." He stood up, sweeping the pile of books on the desk in front of him away, to the floor. Lindsey winced.

"Could you not—?"

"What, it annoys your lawyerly instincts? Sorry, kid, but as evil goes, I'm old-school."

"I thought you were on the side of goodness and light now."

"Yeah… but everybody thought that about you, didn't they?"

"I'm good. Mostly."

"Yeah, whatever."

Spike took out a knife and began carving an image on top of the desk. Lindsey moved closer, frowning. "This isn't some magic thing, is it?"

"What? No. I'm defacing your desk."

Lindsey looked around, taking in his surroundings in surprise. "This is… my house. How'd you find my house?"

"It wasn't easy, especially with you dead and gone. And Eve being dead and all. Fortunately, you left a paper trail…" Spike looked up from his vandalism, smirking. "And I do so love kicking other people's stuff around."

Lindsey scowled at him. "You son of a … what are you doing now?"

"I'm going to burn it down. It's a nice place… you put a lot into it. Time, money, care… did you do the garden yourself? It's lovely. I'll have it bulldozed."

Lindsey was starting to lose his temper. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Spike smirked at him. "Well, I should ask the same." He took his lighter out, flicking it on and slamming it shut a few times. "But I think I want to kill you."

Lindsey raised a hand, knocking Spike to the ground with a blast of energy. "You're only human. I could crush you like an insect!"

Illyria stepped out of the shadows, appearing as if she hadn't really been there till now. "Except that you belong to a highly neutral group who is not supposed to use their powers on regular people."

Lindsey's face fell, and he tried to attack again. Nothing happened, and he moved to retreat. Dana was standing behind him, and she grabbed him, slamming him down onto the desk Spike had been carving on.

Spike got up slowly, wincing. "That pain is a small price to pay to take you down, you ponce. Now, let's get to the real business. I want that missing page of the prophecy."

Lindsey shrugged. "I can't give that to you."

Spike sneered. "You're trapped here now, bound to this place with…" His face fell very rapidly. "You mean that literally, don't you? You can't give it to me. Okay." He moved closer, so that his face was only inches away from Lindsey's. "Tell me about it. Not just what's on it, but why you took it. Talk to me."

"Or what, you'll kill me? I'm already dead," said Lindsey.

"I have more creative ideas in mind for you. Now, talk. Or else you'll learn why they call her a hell goddess."

* * *

Angel drank as much drugged blood as he could hold, trying to get to sleep. Harmony stood guard over him while he slept, as much to guard him from his enemies as to guard his friends from him, he thought.

Lying there on the soft silk sheets he dreamed. Odd dreams.

He dreamt that Spike was yelling at him. He dreamt that Spike was pleased with him. He dreamt that he killed Spike.

And somewhere in there, he had an epiphany.

When he finally woke up, he realized that everything was the same as it had been before. But he hadn't been seeing it right. He hadn't been seeing it clearly. Lindsey had tried to obscure the picture, but it was still there.

It was so obvious.

He glanced at Harmony, who was watching him from under hooded, half-closed eyes. She was either drowsy, or she sensed the danger in the room.

He smiled at her. "How long was I out?"

"A little too long," she said guardedly.

He sat up, grabbing his shirt, which was laid out on the chair. He didn't like the look in her eyes when she saw his bare skin. It was too predatory. "Listen, are you going to obey Spike solely, or would you obey any order I gave you?"

Harmony shrugged. "Dunno, really. Depends on the order."

"Good. I just had this epiphany."

"Sounds painful."

"No, not really… was that a joke?"

"Maybe a little bit."

"Hmph."

"So, what's the plan, boss? Why the long face and strange orders?"

He stared at the blonde, who had never looked dumber. "Do you know what an epiphany is, Harm?"

She stared at him, and her jaw dropped open. "Wow. Seriously. Wow."

"What?"

"Okay, don't panic. Spike had a plan for this." She lunged for the door, grabbing her purse and pulling a stake out. "Just stay right there, and tell me about your epiphany."

"What?" He stared at her, surprised.

"Spike warned me about this sort of thing. World-changing, life-changing. That can go two ways. Good epiphanies, where you see your way clear, and start fighting evil with a life you've never had before… and bad epiphanies, where you turn evil."

Angel smirked. "He would know about both of those, I guess, being the master of them. He pulled off so many different epiphanies in his life… and death…"

Harmony cleared her throat. "Come on, let's hear yours."

Angel was surprised at the steel and fire in her voice. He stared at her for a minute, honestly trying to remember when she had first sought redemption. Trying to remember how shallowly she had done so.

Trying to understand how somebody so dumb had apparently found it.

It seemed unfair, in a way. His own struggles seemed harder than hers, and she hardly seemed to have the brain capacity of a retarded flea. Resentment and jealousy flared for a second.

"I understand now," he said softly. "Every time I listened to that prophecy, every time I heard it, I thought it was about me. I only saw how it was about me. Now, for the first time, I closed my eyes and listened. And it wasn't about me. It wasn't about me at all."

* * *

Xander answered Faith's phone, not even bothering to check the caller ID. He knew it would Spike, as usual, calling to make their lives miserable.

It was hard to hate the former vampire these days, but it was a goal worth working at, he figured.

"Hello, Spike," he said sullenly.

Spike was silent for a moment. When he spoke there was an equal amount of hatred in his voice, which was nice. It was the same familiar hatred that Xander expected, the last surviving bit of normality from Sunnydale. No matter how weird the world got, how Dawn grew up, how Angel changed, how Xander changed, he could at least count on Spike to hate him.

"Whelp, I'm worried about you."

God, Xander hated that former vampire.

"You're worried about me?"

"I just put the thumbscrews in on a higher power, and it turns out your life is in danger."

"Yeah, we got that before. Either Angel or me has to die."

"Yeah, but now I just found out that you have to live or Faith's going to die."

"Yeah, well… what?"

"Knocked your stuffing out a tad, eh? Listen, and listen good. Angel and I leapt to a conclusion. We assumed that missing page was about Angel. But now I have a sneaking suspicion. These guys play for keeps. They didn't take that page away from the prophecy just to screw with Angel. They did it to prevent him from doing something good—to keep him from doing the one thing that will save him. They know him well enough to know that killing him isn't good enough. Denying him the salvation he wants so bad is the real revenge."

Xander's heart was pounding in his ears. "What? Keep him from doing what? Saving me? Sacrificing himself? Because he wants to sacrifice himself."

"It's not that simple. I'm not calling Angel because he's just going to leap to the same conclusions, again. And this is bigger than that. Too big."

"What are you saying?"

"Get Faith, and head for the underground."

"The underground?"

"Underground rail. I don't remember what they call it. We vamps used to call it fast food. The rail? Sounds right, anyway. Once you're there, buy a ticket. There should be a destination called Giles."

"You're kidding."

"It's a Slayer safe house… a code they'd all recognize. Bit's idea, I think. Get there. Buffy and Dawn should already be there."

"And we bring Angel with us?"

"No. I'm on my way… I need to talk to him."

* * *

There was a bleakness about Angel, decided Harmony. A flat, empty space where he had lived previously. She could see the hollowness in his eyes, the gradual drowning in him, and she knew that things would only get worse from here.

"You're right," she said finally. "Spike's known for quite a while now that you and Connor are the keys. He had hoped that you would find your own way, unlock all the secrets, but I told him that was just whacked."

"What?"

"You're all about using violence to solve your problems."

"I'm not some Neanderthal like Spike," he scoffed.

"No, you're the vampire who was beheading his own employees if they were evil. I was there, remember? Whatever."

"So Spike figured that I would end up this way?"

"I don't know about that. He just warned me that you had a different role than you thought—that you might just be a pawn in all this. That it might not be all about you. Of course, I didn't really believe him. He just plain doesn't like you."

Angel smirked. "True."

"So, you see, there's all kinds of reasons why your little epiphany is suspect. It agrees with Spike, for starters."

"You mean your Messiah?"

"Oh, please. Don't confuse me with the Spike-worshipers. I follow him because it's the right thing to do, not because I think by rising from the dead as a human he's become some kind of demigod."

Angel choked. "What?"

"What, they never explained it to you? A lot of them think Spike has ascended to a higher plane of existence… like on Stargate, see? Never mind, you don't watch TV. But they're really impressed. He plays it up, using Illyria and Dana to fake having unbelievable mystical powers."

Angel ground a hand against his forehead, trying to zone out the blond vampire's prattling. "Right, got it. They're dumber than I thought!"

Harmony shrugged. "So, when it all comes down to it, I turned out to be smarter than most vampires. Which surprises a lot of people. That's kind of insulting."

Angel really was wondering why he even bothered trying to explain himself to her. It was increasingly clear to him that she would never understand him, or even come close. He braced himself, getting ready to charge her and disarm her, when she put the stake away.

That disappointed him a little bit.

"So, you've had a good kind of epiphany. That's cool. What do we need to do?"

He took a deep breath. "We need to turn Xander."

* * *

Cordelia wasn't even sure why she bothered knocking before entering Lindey's new office. It was a perfect replica of the one Angel had trashed, looking just like a lawyer's office. "You know, some of your clientele have had bad experiences with lawyers," she said sarcastically.

Lindsey shrugged. "I cast a relatively simple charm that makes it look more pleasant to the kids. Less lawyerly, maybe more like Santa's workshop, or whatever it is they want to see. Some damn pretty thing. What do you want?"

"Oh, bad mood? Maybe I should try later." She put her hands on her hips as she approached the desk, deliberately not sitting down so that he had to look up at her. "I hear you had a run-in with the great Spike."

"Yeah," he drawled, scowling. "Where was my celestial backup? Namely, you?"

She shrugged. "We had a meeting. Decided that Spike is a dangerous guy we don't want to anger… and that means you had to get yourself out. Whoop-de-doo."

"Yeah, thanks a lot." He examined his nails, pretending to ignore her.

She tossed her now-perfect hair, which was now even more perfect than it had been in life, which was quite a feat, given the care she'd given to her lustrous locks. "What, you couldn't handle Spike on your own?"

He glowered at her. "You're still mad at me because I hurt your precious hero."

"Yeah, and I'm still trying to clean up that mess. I put the new guy in your spot, watching Angel, but there's a little confusion. Apparently you hid some information he thinks is vital for the job."

Lindsey shrugged. "I'm doing good, watching your orphans and staying out of trouble. Don't ask me to help Angel too."

"Did you tell Spike?"

The smirk on his face was pure evil. "What, give in to the torture? Even though I can't feel pain? I told you, I can handle the orphans. Why don't you let the new worker worry about Angel?"


	21. Bad boy

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 21: Bad Boy

* * *

"No, think about it!" said Angel, trying to get a grip on the side of the building. Harmony was showing surprising strength, not having dropped him out the window yet, hanging on to his ankle. He would have kicked her in the head with his other foot, but he couldn't find anything to grab on the side of the building. Plus, then she would drop him.

"No, no thinking!" she yelled. "We are not turning Xander! I thought you were having a good epiphany! Jerk!"

He didn't like the distance to the ground. It was nearly three stories—none of them particularly short stories.

"Look, it'll be good for Xander! Give him some nifty powers he can use to defend Faith. He needs the powers. He said he was no good without them! And we can stuff a soul in him!"

"The soul-stuffing doesn't take away the vampiring, you idiot! That's well-established at this point."

Angel grunted. "He's not going to live if he stays human. This way fulfills the prophecy. This way saves him… and the kid!"

Harmony shook her head. "Yeah, well, no! I really can't believe we're even having this discussion. Rule one! We don't bite, we don't turn people."

"Is that part of the Spike fanclub rulebook?"

She dropped him.

* * *

Xander watched Faith while she examined the lobby around them. She was always alert, always ready, those dark eyes so wary, so defensive.

She was wearing softer colors today, which in her case meant a blood-red tee instead of a black one, and dark green pants instead of black. He wasn't sure if that meant anything. It might just mean that their overly-active lifestyle was destroying her wardrobe.

"So, what does it mean?" she asked him, not even looking at him. There was a coldness there, a distance.

"Huh?" He felt behind again. Slow. Like he was in school again. "What does what mean?"

"All this. That Spike told us to run away. Why? Was he gonna drop another bombshell and make Angel explode? Notice how he loves doing that? Ech. Is Angel gonna explode? What does any of it mean?"

Xander shrugged. "I'm just getting used to the whole idea that we do what Spike says, now. Wasn't so long ago that very sentence would have been laughed at. Out of hand."

Faith spared him a glare. That was a touchy subject, one she preferred to stay off. As far as she was concerned his hatred for Spike and Angel was unreasonable. It didn't help that she identified with them in a big way; they had been bad, she had been bad. His unwillingness to forgive them hit her hard.

And while she wasn't as close to Spike as she was to Angel, he had helped her before. He had also helped bring the two of them together, which, Xander figured, should earn the former vampire a medal.

A medal. A tiny one. No respect, and no friendship.

The Slayer who had greeted them at the door looked up in horror at a faint buzzing spell, the security system that was set off by the presence of demons. "Demon on the deck!" she yelled, diving for cover behind her desk.

Illyria walked in the door. "Is Buffy and the annoying one here?" she asked.

Dana was following her. "It's cool, she's with me," she said, grinning. "So, the Slayers own this hotel? I thought Angel was the one with a hotel."

Xander grinned. There was no sign of Spike, and he liked the crazy Slayer. Sure, she was nuts, and in love with Spike, but at least she was normal. "No sign of em yet. Is Spike hovering?"

"No, he's off somewhere," said Dana. "Is anything here broken? If not, then we've got work to do. Breaking stuff, I mean."

Xander changed his mind about liking her.

* * *

"How did you get here so fast?" Angel asked Spike. He was sulking a bit, since one arm was broken, and his ribs felt awful. Harmony was heating him up some drugged blood.

Spike stood in the doorway, flicking his lighter opened and closed, his head tilted to one side. "You know how I like to pretend I have all the answers, run around all mysterious like?"

"Yeah. It makes you a good target, dragging all the baddies who are fooled away from the Slayers. I like that."

"Me too. So, I talked to Lindsey, dragged some answers out of him. Not many. He lied through his teeth to me, of course. To make matters worse, it looks like he's been doing some really good work… and I mean good. Capital G. Even since he got made a higher power he's been pulling strings furiously. Evil is boxed in, and I mean the kind of mundane evil that preys on little kids every day. Turns out that Lindsey has a big heart when it comes to the kiddies… just can't help them enough. So he's been doing great work for them. For you? He's screwed you eight ways from Sunday."

"I did sort of have him killed," muttered Angel.

"Things get worse. You and I, we've known for a while that this prophecy about Faith's kid is big. We've done everything we could to protect her, even when it meant protecting her from you. Haven't we?"

Angel nodded, rubbing a hand down his face. "This is so screwed up."

"Yeah, you an me, saving the world again. We always end up on the same team, no matter how screwed up that is."

"Ugh."

"Okay, let me twist the knife a little more."

Angel glared up at the former vampire. "Go ahead."

"Nina was having troubles, so I sent her on a quest here in Jolly Ol, searching for a missing piece that was nagging at my mind."

"A missing piece. You mean the prophecy?"

"Nah. I was already all over that. No, the missing piece I was obsessing about was the paper trail leading back to the apocalypse cult that was after Faith. There was something about them just a little bit familiar, don't you think? Turns out that was Lindsey too. Big surprise."

Angel scowled. "So he's after Faith too?"

"No, he's just trying to move the timetable on the prophecy up. Which moves you closer to your death. Only the prophecy isn't really about you, is it? Your death is not on the table. Lindsey wouldn't be that simple. You've been dead before, and got over it. He wants to really put the knife in, doesn't he? What would be worse than death, for you."

Angel sighed. "Failure."

"How about the loss of Faith and Xander, and having the kid turn evil, because you misstepped? That missing page has the way to keep you from winning, not to kill you like I thought initially."

"How could you possibly know that?"

Spike barked a laugh. "People ask me questions like that all the time, wondering why I make such a great good guy. Wondering how I make leaps like that, how I can stay one step ahead of the bad guys. Same way you do, Angelus. Same way your boy Lindsey does. It's what I would do!" He moved closer, smirking. "We're pretty good villains, buddy, which means we know what the villain needs to do to win. We know what a good villain will do. The hoops they have to jump through, the incompetent minions they have to run. We know! Better than the villains know."

Angel glowered at him. At times the young vampire—former, now—had been a too-accurate mirror image of him. At times his polar opposite. But always annoying. Creeping beneath his skin and cutting him with those too-sharp eyes. "So, what?"

"Well, I figure that you, being you, will go play hero. I can always count on you for that. But without that direction, without the crucial clue, what exactly you'll do escapes me. That's why I had Harmony watching you, and warned her to be on the lookout for you jumping to any huge conclusions."

"Like the epiphany I had about turning Xander."

"Exactly!" Spike paused, chewing on his lower lip. "You might be right. It might fix everything. But it might bugger it, you know? Could be right, could be wrong."

"I'm sure of this."

"You're always sure, Angel. I'm always sure too. At the end of the day, that's why we both died."

"Which time?"

"Ha-bloody-ha. Have I caught up to you? Let me see. You were turned, I was turned. Buffy sent you to hell, I got burned up and then resurrected. I died and shanshued, you died and I marched into hell to get you out."

"Fine, we're even!" snarled Angel.

"But you're a vampire, and I'm just human." Spike's smile was brittle, hiding a hurt. "Funny how life works. When all's said and done."

"We should have swapped destinies."

"Yes. But that's the rub, Angel. I would never be happy in your life… so that's what they gave me. And you could never be happy in mine, so they gave it to you."

"I don't follow."

"Our destiny, ultimately, is the one that sucks the most. Because guys like Lindsey, who hate us, get to call the shots. I imagine every person I ever killed got to help choose my fate. So you and me, we're never gonna be where we want to be. Never going to be who we want to be. You might as well do like me; accept it, and make the most of it."

"Like having a chaste relationship with a girl who's not all there?" asked Angel tightly. "Tell me, are they getting a little blue, Spike? Who's the eunuch now? You've always been a physical kind of guy… very physical. Now you're in a relationship with a complete innocent. It must kill you inside, forcing yourself to wait to corrupt her."

Spike let out a long breath. "Wow, I was expecting that one about two months ago…from Xander."

Angel sneered at him, glad that for once he had been able to draw blood. People tended to think of them as friends, just because they were allies who ended up working together closely. Those people just didn't understand how much they hated having to work closely together.

Spike sighed. "Look, you want to start? I'll start in on dog-girl. I kid you not. Just drop it while we're both still standing."

"You think you could take me?" hissed Angel.

"I think that Harm could probably take you," said Spike indulgently. "In case you hadn't noticed, you've been drugged to the gills. Mostly because you scared Harm with your talk about turning Xander. Now, let's just get one thing straight, okay? Lindsey has you in a box. A pretty box, but a box. One he likes a lot."

Angel rolled his eyes. "I knew that. I've known that forever. If not him, somebody else. Everybody's favorite game of tame-the-Angel, make him dance to their tune… did you see how well Wolfram and Hart played? Like they'd been doing it awhile, maybe?"

Spike smirked. "That's pretty good."

"What?"

"That you're picking up the subtleties. Okay, let me sit down for a minute and sketch out to you the different possibilities." Spike threw himself down on the ground, sprawling there bonelessly and staring at the ceiling, lacing his hands behind his neck. "One; Lindsey is double-faking, you need to lay down your life in a major sacrifice and turn Xander so he can take up defending the baby. It's an okay idea… but there is one hole. Not enough pain for you."

Angel groaned.

"Option two: we start busting things up. We find do damage. We hurt people. I think you'll like this plan. Downside; it solves nothing. But it is on the table, just so you know."

"Good."

"Option three; we need you alive to save the kid. We need Xander alive and un-turned. And there's a way to get both, but it was on that stupid missing page of the prophecy that we can't have. So, we're boned."

Angel sighed. "Story of my life."

* * *

Amelia was reading when she heard the scraping noises at the door. She jumped up, grabbing the gun she kept by her bed, and ran to the door, throwing it open.

It was just Ethan, trying to get a window jimmied open. Amelia lowered the gun. "Oh, great," she muttered. "You."

He stared at her for a moment. "I didn't realize you were still in the compound," he told her. He was amazed. Although she was only his half sister, and they shared few features, he could see his father's features stamped on her face.

He had hated his father.

She kept the gun between them, pointed down at his feet. "You're trying to escape from the Slayers again? You're a rat fink. Oh, did I thank you for trying to kill me yet?"

He sniffed. "I wasn't trying to kill you. Just trying to …er, use your blood for a spell. And it worked, I might add. I found Angel quite easily."

She glowered at him. "Shut up, and step back from the window or I'll shoot you."

He sighed, stepping back. "Good gracious, you look about ready to join the forces of good. The first Rayne in centuries to not work for the forces of darkness. Daddy would be so disappointed."

"Daddy was a sleaze with a taste for underage girls."

"Well, yes. Did you miss the part about being the first Rayne in centuries…? Oh, bother." He focused on the tip of her gun. "Look, let's not split hairs. I'm leaving. I'll find a window of opportunity, eventually, and take it. Even if you don't let me now. Come on, woman, we share blood! Please?"

She shook her head. "I can't believe you," she said, disgusted.

As he marched away from her he smiled, his smile carefully hidden from her. "That's just as well," he muttered under his breath. "Just as well."

Maybe he wasn't the kind of big brother who would ever be anything but a bother, but at the very least he could provide an excellent example to her of just what evil people were like, and give her a powerful negative example.

Now, if he could only find a way to escape….

* * *

Spike shook his head. "Here's the thing." He was halfway to drunk now, with only three beers in him. Angel had already had five, and wasn't even feeling a tingle. He knew that Spike could have matched him in the old days, when he was a vampire too.

Harmony, on the other side of Spike, was nodding.

"I've tried your way. Twice. The big grand gesture, going out, snuffing it fighting the good fight. And both times I came back! Your way might ease things short-term, but it sure won't solve your problems."

Angel was trying to drown his sorrows in a lot of drinking, which was completely out of character for him. It was something Spike would do. Now he was borrowing from Spike's playbook.

What a miserable thought.

Spike continued gesturing grandly. "A million different worlds out there, they say, and we're stuck on this little rock spinning through space. Organic pain accumulators!"

Angel wasn't even sure why he was here any more. Not just in general, but in this particular pub. Spike had just said he needed to meet an informant. Angel looked through the crowded room, trying to spot whatever scum would inform to Spike.

He regretted the thought as soon as he saw Nina edging through the crowd towards them, a smile on her face as she saw him.

The last time he'd seen her he had nearly drained her, overcome by the bloodlust. And she was smiling to see him. He swallowed, hard, trying not to let this throw him off. He drained his glass quickly.

Spike chuckled, a low, evil chuckle. "It seems all your girls get hurt eventually, eh?"

"Shut up, Spike," whispered Angel. Nina barreled up to him and grabbed him in a hug, pressing her face to the crook where his shoulder met his neck.

"Missed you," she whispered.

He nodded awkwardly. "Me too."

She let go and sat down next to him, glancing over at Spike. "Has his royal highness filled you in on his plans?" she asked frostily.

Spike rolled his eyes. "I did fill him in, yes. He's stubborn, of course, wants to make his own plans… like me, he never did like being a pawn. Look, fellows, if we want to do this right we have to do it up proper. Act like we know what's going on, confound our friends and enemies alike, and dish out some chaos!"

Nina sighed. "You mean violence. You men…"

Spike shook his head. "The prophecies have been invoked. The hellfire prophecy, which involved the destruction of Denver. The Mother of Eternity is Faith, and her faithful one-eyed guardian… well, you know that part. And sparky here is the thread that ties it all together, the risen vampire. My own prophecy is relatively minor, and fulfilled; the shanshued vampire. But when you put it all together, it adds up. Faith's kid is going to reshape this world in her own image—oh, don't smirk, lady. We need to find some way to safeguard Faith and her child. And somebody tore up the one page that would tell…" Spike's face shifted, an unguarded thought coming together. "Oh, I get it. Gotta go." He went to stand up, but Angel grabbed his arm, suddenly very alert.

"You get it?"

"Lindsey. His whole deal is defending children, right? One of the mother of Eternity's guardians is going to die. Lindsey's deal wasn't entirely about revenge on you. He's not that petty. I don't think," said Spike reluctantly.

"So, what!" growled Angel.

"He's trying to jinx your deal without screwing the kid. Trust Linds to find a way to screw you while saving the world! No wonder his superiors weren't bent out of shape. The whole bit about a guardian dying—I was really wondering how he was going to twist that. Now, I know."

Angel frowned. "The words make sense, but don't you have anything, you know, specific? Or at least a little concrete?"

Spike shook his head firmly. "Harmony and I need to go suss out a few things with Connor. In France. I'll be around. The girls are going to stick tight with you guys."

"What happened to everyone around Faith dying except me and Xander?"

"That was more or less tied to the Denver prophecy, and it wasn't quite that specific." Spike grinned. "I just didn't want any other Slayers getting involved, so I made stuff up, like usual."

Angel rolled his eyes. "We could have used some help in Denver, you know."

"Yeah, but I needed to be elsewhere, and if the Watchers get involved, you know there'll be a lot of dying. Slayer dying, that is. I don't want them in this."

Angel groaned. "You wonder why we don't trust you? You make up prophecy to suit you, you jerk us all around, and you're an…" He glanced at Nina, frowning, and bottled up the rest of his outrage. "Just get out of here. I'll sort things out with Faith and Xander."

Spike nodded. "Too right, you will."

Once he was gone Nina let out a long sigh of relief. "I've got to tell you, the tension between you two isn't pretty."

"Well, we've really known each other longer than we've known anybody else alive. When you've known somebody that long, when you know every little flaw that well, it gets really old."

"Hm. I wanted to talk to you without him around. Think he's really gone?"

"Yeah. These days my senses are a lot more sharp than his." Little digs like that always made him feel a little better.

Nina took a deep breath. "I had a little talk with some seers, and that elemental you know in London."

Angel frowned. "You mean Dunney? He's not really a reliable source."

"Yeah, but… Angel, something weird is happening to me. When you bit me, it did something. Changed something. I feel like… I used to be two people, the wolf and the girl. Now the wolf feels more like part of me… and it scares me."

Angel let out a breath, hissing through his teeth. "Yeah, that'll happen. As you lose yourself to the wolf, as you use it… I'm sorry."

"That's not the weird part."

"It gets worse?"

"Yeah. I was… there was this thing… I saw a guy. He wasn't really there, and nobody else saw him, but I did. He asked me if I loved you."

Now she was making Angel very uncomfortable. "Um… um…"

"Relax, I'm not asking you." She looked a little amused and a little concerned at his sudden discomfort. "I asked him why he wanted to know, and he said you were in the market for a new Seer, somebody to take a lot of painful visions and use them to guide you. Told me I was one of two people in the running for it, and asked me if I wanted it."

"Please tell me you said no," muttered Angel, covering his face.

"Funny thing is, I almost did. Almost. But I didn't exactly say yes, either. And he told me he'd be in touch."

Angel didn't like the sound of that. He'd endured too much at the hands of the Powers to ever trust them again. Even Spike, who had barely been jerked around a little bit by them, was ready to declare war on them at the drop of a hat.

But this? This was insanity. Nina, take the job that had taken Cordy from him? Nina, endure being part of his mission? He really didn't think so.

"No," he said firmly. "If you see him again, don't let him give you the job. Give it to whoever else."

She looked crushed, but recovered fast. "Sure, right."

"That job is a deathtrap! I cannot think of anybody else less… um… expendable… than you. Expendable's not the right word. I don't even know the right word."

She smiled. "Sweet of you to say so. But you just want one of your superwomen that you don't have to worry about in that job, right?"

"No!" he snarled. "I was just as happy not to have anyone in the role!"


	22. Motherhood

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 22: Motherhood

* * *

Faith hated it when Spike showed up unexpectedly. It wasn't that she didn't like Spike. Despite his pretentious air of mystery, despite the very large streak of bastard that ran through him, she counted him as a friend. He had always had her back, and even if he hated Xander, he had saved him, on several occasions. Anybody who saved Xander was good in Faith's book.

But when he showed up unexpectedly Xander tensed up. The hatred between the two of them was a palpable thing, a force that could skewer anybody who got between them.

She hated that.

Spike was grinning. "Hello, love."

All around them, the battle raged. Illyria and Dana were making a terrific job of trashing the place, which was very weird, considering it was a Slayer safe house. Faith hadn't even tried to fight them, but the few Slayers who had were now chained up securely, sitting in the middle of the floor.

Xander stood with the Slayers, looking very worried.

"You've officially gone completely insane," growled Faith. "What is this crap?"

Spike shrugged. "I doubt you'd understand this. It's not really all that… easy to explain. It's not even all that fun for me. Which I just know you don't believe."

"Oh, come on!" she snapped. "You're trashing a Slayer safe house!"

"Wasn't very safe, eh?" His smirk grew.

Illyria paused in her vandalism, kicking over a desk. "Dana, could you handle the upstairs alone? I think I should dole out wisdom now."

Dana pouted. "I wanted to dole out the wisdom."

Illyria rolled her eyes and headed up the stairs, grumbling under her breath.

Dana approached Faith slowly, smiling. Faith managed a tiny, tight smile. "Hey, fruit loop." She really didn't want to have to fight the crazy Slayer. She thought she had left her Slayer-fighting days behind—and they hadn't ended all that well, either.

Dana cleared her throat. "This is a necessary thing," she said seriously. "We thought about this long and hard. You see, there's a lot of people who think that Spike's a bad guy. A lot. Even the Powers that Be don't really trust him."

"Yeah," said Spike, sighing happily.

Dana smiled. "So we're going to pretend to go all evil. Within a week everybody will know that Spike knocked over a Slayer safe house. And whatever damage we did here will be magnified. Who will know we didn't really hurt the girls? Nobody."

"And then the bad guys will probably trust you? Give up, Spike," said Faith firmly. "They won't fall for it. This won't get you into the inner circle of villains."

Spike smirked. "It's not for their benefit, doofus. It's for the good guys. They're the ones who will immediately regroup, drawing their forces back. Failing to protect you properly—which would, of course, get them all blown up. See, in most cases I would send you to a place filled with Slayers to protect you. Right now? It worries me."

She frowned, pressing her fingers to her forehead. "Because of that prophecy that everybody around me except either Xander or Angel will die?"

He smirked. "Well, funny thing, that… you'd have to read that prophecy for yourself."

* * *

The strange thing, thought Giles, was that he should have seen this coming. Through all of Spike's lies there had been a grain, a thread of truth, one that had confounded him. Now he understood, at last.

He closed the book and glared at Ethan. "And when did you discover this?"

Ethan shrugged. "Inbetween escape attempts. Seriously, you lot really don't need me around here; you should just let me scamper off. I'll be back; I always am."

"Bringing chaos and evil with you," sighed Giles. He tapped his fingers on top of the book. "You know, I'm surprised you haven't offered to join up with Spike, work for him. He brings tons of chaos in his wake."

Ethan sighed. "But he's still good."

"Oh, not very, I assure you. All right, you can go."

Giles grabbed the phone, very grateful it was a real phone and not one of the cell phones. He dialed Dawn's number, wondering if she would believe him. She was very smart, but she had always sided with Spike, even when the lunkhead was evil.

Of course, she was very, very smart.

"Hello, Dawn?"

"Hi, Giles. What's the good word?"

"It's a very, very, very bad word today, Dawn."

She hesitated. "As bad as yesterday, when we thought we had to go to war with our bosses?"

"Worse."

"Oh. Okay. Go ahead."

"You remember Spike said that Faith would be involved in an event that would kill everybody around her except either Xander or Angel? Ethan tracked down that prophecy, and went over it. It turns out that, in fact, the prophecy says clearly only one person will die… either Angel or Xander."

"Oh. Spike lied to us? Wowzers. I can't believe his chutzpah. Do we know why?"

"Yes…. Sort of. The rest of the passage is problematic, as this is crosslinked to the prophecy with the missing page, but, basically, it says that Faith needs to stand alone to protect her child, and that those who do good would strike the child down if they could, because the child is, in fact, very likely to destroy the world."

Dawn was very silent for a long time. "Okay. As I understood this mess, the kid could go either way, depending on Angel, right?"

"That's what we were told. Repeatedly. Insistently. Turns out they made up that part out of whole cloth—out of a guess—just because it says in here that Angel has a lot of influence over the child, or he'll save her, or some such. Bottom line, Spike decided to go over our head with this prophecy, and hid it by pointing us at the wrong prophecies once we were aware of this."

Dawn was silent, and then she started chuckling. "Amazingly enough, I'm not surprised. We all knew how easily he would betray us to protect us. We just hoped he wasn't doing it."

"Indeed."

"And we would, of course, kill a kid like this a heart-beat."

"Yes."

"We're bad people, Giles."

He chuckled. "What should I do?"

"You just lie low. I'll handle the next step."

* * *

Angel wondered why Nina was upset with him. It wasn't like he had ever so much as slept with Cordelia. (except that one time, and that was a spell) He'd never even told Cordelia he'd loved her. (except that was because he was totally hung up on Buffy the whole time)

Now she was mad just because she had figured out that it was Cordelia that had died while being his Seer. Upset because in her mind, him getting upset about the position of Seer meant he must have cared deeply for his last Seer. And maybe he had, but he thought she was blowing this way out of proportion.

He was silent while she drove. He wished he was driving, but he was sure that would become a sore subject too. Probably turn into a big argument, and they were not arguing right now.

"Where are we going?" he asked her.

She shrugged. "Spike said that we should just go to a hotel, get a room, and wait for his phone call."

"No, I'm pretty sure that's not what I should do," said Angel.

"Can't you take any kind of hint?" she asked.

"There are important things happening. I need to do something."

"Like what?"

He just stared at the floor. He could feel sunrise, a few hours away, and it was too much for him to think about. He didn't want to think about it.

So he just stared, sullenly, at the floor.

* * *

Harmony dialed the number and waited a while. When Buffy picked up the phone Harmony could feel all her stomach muscles tightening. The tiny Slayer scared the beejesus out of her…and not just because she was a Slayer. All that history with Spike cropped up too.

"Hello?" said Buffy, in that too-cute voice Harmony hated so much.

"Hi, Buffy? This is Harmony."

There was a long minute of silence. Then some muttering, and some clicking. Finally Dawn spoke. "Is this part of Spike's disinformation campaign? We're pretty sick of that."

"Er… uh." Harmony had hoped just to talk to Buffy. The annoying little sister was too sharp, too perceptive. Too hard to talk to. Harmony hated that. It made her feel dumb. Was she so dumb?

"Why are you calling?" prompted Dawn.

Harmony wondered if she could lie to them. But, no, Spike would find out about that, and then there would lectures about souls… the big hypocrite. He lied to them all the time. "Well, there's been some developments, and we thought we'd keep you posted."

"Yeah? Okay."

"Um… Angel wanted to turn Xander to fulfill the prophecy, but we stopped him. And there's, um… you know, now you've made me forget. Let me check my notes."

"You have notes? For a phone conversation with Buffy? Oh, god."

"Hey! I'm not dumb, I just have some … attention… deficit… yeah, whatever, okay. Don't give me that. Okay, yeah. The powers have straightened some stuff out, but now it looks like they're reorganizing, to give Angel some guidance…a Seer, you know?… and that could be bad, depending. It doesn't always go so well. Last time it was the fast track to hell, for Cordelia, or something."

Dawn made a growling noise. "Nice. Who's going to get that job, another bimbo girlfriend? Yeah, we all saw that one coming. What else?"

"I don't… you're mean! And you suck!" Harmony slammed the phone down.

She hated it when people made her feel dumb.

"Hey, what's up?" asked Xander, who was carefully loading his luggage into the van. She glared at him, and he threw his hands up and retreated.

Faith, who was catnapping in the back seat, looked up. "Angel is getting a seer? What the heck?"

"Cordelia was his last seer. God! And they call me dumb," muttered Harmony.

"Pretty sure you don't want to take that tone with me," said Faith, amused.

"Eh, bite me," muttered Harmony. "I'm having a bad day. And the sun is coming up! We need to hurry."

Spike approached Harmony, carrying a blanket. "I'll drive, pet. You just cover up, all right."

She sighed. "God, you love to make this difficult for me, don't you? Could you stop being nice to me?"

He chuckled, pushing her over and climbing into the driver's seat. "Okay, where's Illyria going to sit?" he asked, looking into the back seat. "Far back's full of luggage, no spot there… do we need a second car? And who'll drive?"

"Please, please, please, let me have a car!" pleaded Xander, returning with more luggage. "Oh, please!"

Spike laughed out loud. "Not likely!" He glanced at Harmony, then back to Illyria and Dana, who had come running. Both of them were smiling, which was unnatural on Illyria's face. "You girls want to go riding, eh?" he asked.

"Please?" said Dana. "I've never driven before, and neither has she. And it looks fun!"

He shrugged. "Why not?"

Xander stared at him. "Oh, a world of reasons why not. A world of them! I think I could drive."

Faith pouted. "I'd rather you stayed with me."

Harmony rubbed her nose. "I need to talk to you, Spike," she said softly.

Spike sighed. "You aren't going to like what I have to say," he warned her.

Dana moved forward, suddenly serious, and put a hand on the vampire's shoulder. Harmony looked uncomfortable, looking up at the Slayer, who was leaning down into the van.

"Sometimes bad things happen," Dana said. There was experience in that voice, more than Faith thought she should have had. "What happens after that is up to us."

Spike tossed a set of keys past Dana, to Illyria. "You drive first, Blue. You had some inkling of that before, right? Chariots and all that? So you drive first, and when we stop for lunch, you two will switch off. Okay?"

Illyria grinned and nodded. Dana reluctantly stepped back, closing Harmony's door while the vampire covered up.

"I can't believe you're letting them drive!" said Xander, settling down beside Faith right behind Harmony. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"

Spike started the minivan. "Look, at some point they have to learn. Go ahead, Harm."

"I'm incredibly conflicted right now," mumbled Harmony.

"Goes well on you."

"I'm serious!"

"Me too."

"I want to be a villain again, Spike."

Xander tensed right up. He had never been more scared in his life.

Spike sighed. "Don't we all?"

"I'm starting to understand why the bloodlust nearly drove Angel out of his mind. This is not… it's not fun. It's not healthy. It's not natural."

"You remember what I promised you?"

"Yeah, yeah. I do. And that's why I fight, I guess. Just that one promise."

"I didn't think you'd keep up your end," said Spike, putting the van in gear and pulling forward, keeping an eye on the car as it lurched forward and followed them. "Getting a soul was a brilliant twist, in my opinion."

"It's not working." She sounded miserable.

"Yeah, it turns out that all the stupid thing does is make you unhappy. Kind of a bummer, huh?"

"Yeah. I'm serious, Spike. I can't do it. Absolutely cannot."

"You know my position on the matter. Oh, come on, Blue! A little faster, c'mon!"

"Yeah, I know."

Xander took a deep breath. "Can we focus on that comment on being a villain again? And what are we talking about anyway?"

"Shut up," said Spike sharply. "Look, Harm, I can't make you do anything. But you know as well as I do that it's the right thing to do. Think about it."

She sighed. "Why even bother? You'll run around and posture, the bad guys will continue to get meaner and scarier, and eventually everyone we know will be picked off one by one. If the vampires don't kill you eventually, you'll die of old age. I can't even think of one stinking thing I would want to fight for on this earth! I'm a vampire, which means eternal youth and good looks, but Angel has that going on plus about a boat-load of angst… and angst is not me. I don't want it. And the fact that I'm talking about it means I have it. I'm not liking it!"

Spike sighed. "It's never been your fight. Every step of the way. It doesn't have to be now. Only if you want it."

"I do want it," she mumbled. "That's the frustrating part. I don't think I ever wanted it when I was human, or when I was a vampire, or even when I got my soul back. I just got that because I was upset over biting you. I thought maybe the soul would make it better. Maybe make you trust me again."

"I do trust you, Harm."

"Yeah, but… not for the soul."

"Not really, no."

She was silent, adjusting the blanket as the sun came up, flooding the car with deadly sunlight. Spike smiled, leaning to his left to get some sun on his face. "You know, I could almost get used to humanity again… almost. It's certainly been one perk."

Faith stirred. "You know, Harmony, I killed guys."

Harmony shrugged. Or at least the blanket shifted in a way resembling a shrug; Xander wasn't sure.

Faith continued. "Took me a while to come around. A lot of speeches from Angel, and one big fight with him. But in the end I came back and fought beside Buffy again, after everything I did to her before, after hating her so bad. You know why?"

"Because it was right?" asked Harmony sarcastically.

"No… because if I hadn't, I knew somebody would have died. Maybe Buffy. Maybe Xander. Maybe Willow, or Giles. Even the kid sister. And if any one of them died, and I wasn't there to stop it, I would have hated myself even more. That's why Spike is here. Lying to people left and right."

Spike twitched. "You think I've lied to you recently?"

She laughed. "I didn't say that. That's just a guess, based on your wacky, lying ways. Think I'm dumb, Spike?"

"Trusting, maybe." He was sulking now.

"Whatever. Back on point. Harmony. Could you ever just walk away, knowing that without your all-too-capable skills Spike could get killed?"

"But I'm not capable!" wailed the vampire, sinking lower in her seat. "All I do is just what Spike tells me. All I tell people is what he said to say! I'm just a secretary. I can't even fight!"

Spike sighed. "But, Harm, you're a very good secretary. You know that."

She sniffled anyway.

Faith sighed. "I can't believe I'm trying to help out a vampire. Being all comforting and maternal."

"Must be hormones," muttered Xander.

"Look," said Faith, drawing a deep breath. "Just look, okay? Your skills… your secretarying… it could save Spike's life."

"But it can't!" wailed Harmony.

"I'm sure it could," said Faith.

"Not if I have to leave and go and be somewhere else all the time, not if I have to abandon him!" Harmony rubbed her face. "Curse the irony."

Faith frowned. "Wait, I'm feeling like Xander. Back up. Wha?"

Harmony sighed. "It turns out that after everything I've been through, after being the bad guy for, I don't know, forever, working with Spike has totally set me up to do something else. And, you know, just for the record, I don't like it! I would much rather stick with Spike and keep on doing what we do best."

Faith tried to keep a blank look on her face, but she apparently failed, because Xander figured it out a second after she did. Xander's face twitched. "They want you to be a Seer? Doesn't the job description include, you know, wisdom and stuff?"

"No," said Spike. "Apparently, according to Lindsey, at least, it just includes a bunch of annoying visions to let Angel know when and where the bad things are happening." He was still keeping an eye on the car behind them, but he was also concentrating on their conversation, leaving precious little attention for the road in front of them, noted Xander.

Faith let out a sigh. "Oh, okay. So Harmony will have a place in this whole prophecy deal too. Isn't that nice."

Spike slammed a hand into the steering wheel. "Why do you all have to be blooming idiots?" he shouted. Faith winced backwards, and Spike pulled the van over quickly, unbuckling himself and spinning around onto his knees to face Faith. "Don't you understand? The whole deal with prophesies, this or any other prophecy, is just to screw with you! To make you miss the real things happening—to make you miss the bad things! Don't you see? This whole prophecy about you has done nothing good—nothing! It lets the bad guys know about you, that's all! It raises expectations about your child, and it sets every other good guy on the planet against you, because now they know your child could possibly end the world. End the world, Faith! Most of them think of your kid as one step short of the First, now. One step!"

Xander suddenly saw through Spike, maybe for the first time in his life. Saw through the angry posturing into the fear hidden behind it. And for the first time, he understood Spike, on a level as deep as if he was Spike, for that one second.

"Oh my god," said Xander, breathing out slowly.

Everything Spike had done up till now added up, in a way that it never had. Spike wasn't just spinning his wheels by lying to everybody, and he didn't have some secret knowledge that caused him to tell these lies.

Spike was scared.

Faith looked puzzled, and she glanced from Spike to Harmony's blanket-covered form to Xander, not getting it. "What?" she asked Xander.

Xander just stared at Spike, trying to shake it off, trying to tell himself it wasn't true. Trying not to see what he had just seen in Spike's eyes.

"What?" repeated Faith.

Spike snorted. "Not like what you see, monkey-boy?"

"You're wrong!" said Xander forcefully. "The others wouldn't… they couldn't! We're talking about my child, Spike! They couldn't!"

Spike stared at him. "It's a funny thing, whelp. I'm on the dirty work squad. I know exactly how far a good guy can go and still be called a good guy. Do you know how many people I've tortured since turning good? Far too many. Do you know how many people I've capped because I knew what the outcome would be?"

Faith was starting to understand. "But the prophecy… you said my child could save the world, Spike."

Spike shrugged. "That was a lie to hold the others off while I hid you away. That's why I kept moving you, trying to keep you clear of all our allies."

"Dawn wouldn't!" squeaked Xander. "Not Dawn! Not Buffy! Not Giles! Not Willow! They couldn't!"

Spike sighed. "What would you do, if it were one of them? One of them, inviting the big evil into this world? One of them, harboring the antichrist?"

Xander stared at him, the wheels spinning in his head. "Why are you harboring us, Spike? Why are you helping us?"

Spike smiled. "Because when it comes to me and prophecy, let's just say I harbor some healthy skepticism."


	23. Round and round

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 23: Round and round

* * *

Angel tried to understand the furious shouting in his ear, but his heart just wasn't in it. It didn't surprise him at all that things that seemed good were turning out to have been evil. And why wouldn't Spike lie? He always lied.

Faith's kid would destroy the world? Well, that would explain all those bad guys who were convinced that she would.

Spike had some kind of secret agenda? Boy, had Giles not been paying attention? Everybody knew that. Even Angel wasn't that clueless.

So, Spike had attacked a Slayer safe house, and allegedly done a lot of damage, although nobody was hurt?

It was obvious to Angel at this point that nobody had ever listened to any of things he said about Spike. "You know, Giles, I don't really think any of this makes much of a difference."

Giles took a deep breath, ready to start again, then simply said, in a quiet and deadly voice, "why not?"

"Well, frankly, I read the prophecies. A lot. I already knew that he was lying to you. In fact, I'm pretty sure some of the lying was my idea. In fact, if you want to point fingers… what? How dare you say that about my mother! She's been dead a long time, and that's just hurtful. Now, where was I… Oh, yeah. Giles. I'm hanging up now. Don't call back."

He hung up.

Nina was watching him, concerned. "You've been lying to people?"

"To protect Faith. The prophecies stacked up against her this time, instead of me… it really sucks."

Nina nodded her agreement. "Now, where was I before we were so rudely interrupted?"

* * *

Faith was feeling calm and peaceful. For the first time in a long time.

Xander, on the other hand, was about to climb out of his skin.

The sun was setting, and Harmony was shifting restlessly. "Could one of you get me some blood out of the cooler?" she asked, twisting around to face them. With a blanket over her head, it didn't really seem like she was facing them.

Spike was tapping his hands on the steering wheel. "The girls are having too much fun driving," he decided.

It all seemed so weird.

"I need to talk to Buffy," mumbled Xander, trying to find his cell phone.

Spike shook his head. "That way lies angry arguments. Let's just get through this one on our own first."

"Where are we going?" asked Faith, trying to forestall an argument between them.

Harmony lifted the blanket so she could see the two in the back seat. "Seriously, come on. I'm starving."

Spike sighed. "We're going to France, actually, on the next ferry I can find. In France we'll meet up with Connor and he'll brief you on Operation: Dumb-dumb. Now, give the nice vampire some food."

"Operation dumb-dumb?" Xander wasn't sure if he should be insulted. "Just who is the dummy, eh?" Faith twisted around to get at the cooler behind them.

Spike chuckled. "Illyria doesn't like babies, that's all."

Harmony giggled. "She's funny that way. Blood?"

Faith retrieved the dark red plastic bag and tossed it to Harmony. It hit her in the face and bounced off into Xander's lap. He stared at it in disgust for a moment, reading the label. "This is human blood."

"No, it's not!" squeaked Harmony. "Pure pigs! Nothing else!"

Spike sighed. "Oh, give it up, Harm. I know you've been buying the human-type stuff. I wish you wouldn't, but I'm not going to behead you over it."

"Oh."

Xander glowered at the back of Spike's head. "And why not?"

"Because it's just blood, you ponce. Nobody died for it. Except the people who'll need a transfusion and can't get it now… but, then again, as it's diseased blood, nobody wants it."

"It's just a little infection," said Harmony, sipping at it. "Doesn't have the tang AIDS blood has."

Xander made a horrified face. "I beg your pardon?"

Spike laughed. "What, you think vampires are afraid of getting syphilis or something? What we do…what they do is pretty unhygienic to begin with." Spike sounded amused. Xander wanted to barf. "And being mystically undead, it's not like she can get sick. Or deader."

Faith sighed, snuggling up to Xander's side. "So, we're going to France to meet Connor. Does this mean we get to see the sights?" Xander was infinitely grateful for the change in subject.

"It means we get to see the mansion Connor bought."

Faith made a face. "Mansion? Blah."

"It's nice, he said."

* * *

Angel took his time explaining his epiphany to Nina. Unlike Harmony she didn't freak out right away, but mulled it over. He'd always hated cramped hotel rooms before this, but she somehow made the space cozy with her presence.

"So, what you're saying is that you think turning Xander would be a good thing, here."

He sighed. "No, not exactly. I'm saying that the real solution lies in Xander, or Faith, or Spike, or the kid… not in me."

"What if her kid really is as bad as all that?"

"Then we'll fix it. My son… Connor… he was as bad as all that. Wes didn't think we could fix that. I'm not going to make the same mistake, not this time around."

"So you talked this over with Spike?"

Angel shrugged. "It's one of those things we didn't need to talk about, really. We both understood."

"You mean you thought you understood."

"No, I really don't. Over the years he and I have lost a lot of people, between the two of us. Good people. When we lost Fred, he and I … well, that was almost bonding, that time. Sort of. He and I, we're the sort of people that aren't going to let something like this happen to one of ours."

"So you and Spike have committed yourself to trying to protect a kid who may be pure evil, and –"

"Don't say that."

"Okay, you've committed yourself to lying to yourself and protecting Faith's kid."

Angel shrugged. "You make that sound like it's a bad thing."

* * *

Dawn paced. Buffy fretted. Willow continued talking in hushed tones with Giles about magical lines.

On the whole, it was the most productive meeting so far that day.

Giles was shaking his head furiously now. "We really don't want to involve any of them," he told Willow. "They're notoriously unreliable."

"Yes, but that may be the best we can do."

Dawn wasn't really listening. She was thinking about Spike, actually, and his funny way of viewing the world sideways.

It was strange, that he should turn out to have a tighter grip on reality than she had thought. Generally he played so fast and loose with the very bounds of this world that she had trouble keeping up with which plane of existence he had declared war on this week.

She left them stewing in their meeting. The last thing she needed was feeling like she was trapped on an elevator with them. That might lead to unexpected discoveries of their hidden depths, and she wasn't ready for that today. She was already kind of queasy.

On her own she continued trying to think about Spike.

She wasn't just trying to come to grips with him now. She was trying to outwit him. That was a little harder.

She was all too aware that most of his unpredictability was put on. A complete sham, like most of his act, designed to keep his enemies and allies off balance. She understood that completely; she had ever borrowed parts of his persona for her own use.

It was useful, occasionally.

In this day and age it would have been so easy to succumb to temptation, pick up the phone, and start talking to him, trying to smooth it over and find common ground. But they had no common ground, and he would just learn all about their plans and how much they knew.

Talking would solve nothing.

Decisive and quick action would solve nothing. They might be able to find Spike, but he would have his bodyguards with him.

They might find Faith, but was anybody going to try to tell the Slayers to attack Faith? Not only would it be a suicidal attack, it was liable to turn the Slayers against the Watchers, which would be nightmarish.

She heard high heels clicking down the hall after her, and looked up to see Buffy standing there, arms crossed. Dawn wasn't sure what was going on with Buffy these days, or how well she was dealing, but it occurred to her suddenly that Buffy wasn't quite as skinny as she used to be. She'd put on some muscle, and she was wearing one of the functional outfits Dawn had helped the Slayers put together—something stylish you could hide a dozen stakes in. A loose coat, with good lines… yes, Buffy was clearly paying more attention to Slaying these days.

It worried Dawn that she couldn't tell if that was good or bad.

"You know, I'm really not liking this darker side of the good fight, Dawn," said Buffy.

Dawn wriggled her shoulders, uncomfortable with this conversation. How could they not do what needed doing? "Buffy, she doesn't even have to keep the baby. This shouldn't have to come down to this."

"Seriously, are you hearing yourself? You sound like some fascist official from China, mandating abortions."

"We're talking about unspeakable evil."

"We're always talking about unspeakable evil! Angel nearly destroyed the world… Spike killed Slayers… Willow! Willow nearly destroyed the world!"

"That's past tense."

Buffy groaned. "You're not hearing me at all."

"I hear every word you're saying."

"That's the problem."

Buffy didn't stamp her foot or make a face, but somehow Dawn still got the distinct impression she was sulking.

* * *

Harmony was completely confused about the epiphany now. "Wait, wait, you're saying that it might be a good thing to turn Xander, after all that?"

Spike shook his head. "No, I'm saying Angel was onto something, that's all. That he had cottoned on to the most important part of all this, but he got distracted by Xander!blood."

Harmony rubbed her lower lip. "You know, the more I look at this, the more I wonder whether we're the bad guys."

"What?"

"I mean, we follow every single cliché, to the letter."

"Well, yeah. But we're still good."

The conversation was a little strange, thought Xander. Or maybe it was their timing. Most people wouldn't talk like that in the middle of a fight. At least, not without some quippage.

God, he missed the quippage.

Spike whirled and spun, the quarterstaff in his hands clipping the demon. It didn't even lose its stride, knocking him to the ground, and he let out a bellow of rage.

"Unbelievable! You stupid son of a … Hit him!"

Harmony managed to grab the demon in an awkward hold from behind, clawing at the thing's scaly face from behind. Her nails cut deeply into the soft green flesh, and she shuddered. "Eugh! That won't come out!"

Faith was standing back watching them fight, toying with a pack of cigarettes. Quitting Slaying and quitting smoking were both hard on her. Xander hoped to God she didn't start taking it out on him.

Not that she'd ever taken anything out on him. That was more of a him thing to do, come to think of it.

"I hate being so bloody useless!" howled Spike. He'd gotten up and was waling away on the demon's face with his staff.

"Tell me about it," said Xander with a sigh, stepping up and hefting his axe. "Where's the blue demon and the nutty Slayer now?"

Harmony grunted, pushing the demon down a little bit. "Axe, please! Right now!"

Spike stepped in, taking the axe from Xander and beheading the demon with a powerful two-handed swing. "They're up on the roof, taking care of uglies' cousins."

Xander grabbed back the axe, idly watching Harmony try to clean demon blood off her fingers. "I don't think I like being lumped in with you," he said mournfully.

"Tough," replied Spike. "I don't like being lumped in with you. All right, let's see what else this place has." He picked his staff back up, groaning and rubbing his ribs. "Yeah, that's gonna be sore in the morning. Hey, Harmony, you coming?"

Harmony gave up trying to get the blood off her hands, wiping them one final time on her skirt. "I don't know why I even bother stealing nice clothes. They all get ruined."

Xander would have done a spit-take if there was anything in his mouth. "You stole those clothes?"

Harmony shrugged. "What, we're making a living here? I'm not getting any paychecks. Being evil paid way better than this."

"It's a morally grey area," said Spike carefully, kicking open a door and checking inside. "Harm, make a note. They were dabbling in interdimensional magic."

Xander wasn't sure why they had stopped at this demon-infested museum. He wasn't sure Spike knew, either. But Spike wouldn't have given him anything that made sense. He would have spit gobbledygook that made Xander's eyes water.

It was some kind of defense mechanism, Xander was pretty sure.

Harmony stayed at Spike's side, nodding. Faith caught up with Xander, letting out a sigh. "She is really starting to bug me. Redemption shouldn't be that easy, you know?"

"Oh, boy, do I know," he replied.

"What did Spike promise Harmony, do you think? I bet he promised he would bang her," said Faith.

Harmony whipped around. "Bite your tongue!" she shouted.

Xander sighed. "Honey, don't antagonize the vampire. It's not nice."

Spike turned around slowly. "You know, that's just downright insulting, Faith. You think we're both that shallow? I mean, her, maybe. Me?"

Xander decided now was a good time to change the subject. "What are we doing here, Spike? Just cleaning out a local nest of whatever these are while everything else goes to hell? Shouldn't we be focusing, or something?"

Spike fidgeted nervously. "We're just… passing time. Trying to nudge things. I guess."

"What?" Xander wasn't in the mood for Spike's double-talk, which always irritated him. "What do you mean, nudging things?"

"Things aren't lined up yet," said Spike carefully. "We have to make sure everything is just as it should be. Once it's fine, that way, then we can… well, we can go on to the next phase, is what I mean."

Harmony cleared her throat. "He promised he'd help me be good if I worked with him," she said. "That's all. Nothing pervy, nothing weird, and nothing … nothing you guys would understand, anyway. I mean, I know you think I'm the dumb one, the shallow one, but I … forget it."

She turned and stalked off. Spike frowned at Faith, then turned and followed the vampire.

Xander thought about that for a minute. "You know, I think she's doing fine," he decided. "Certainly seems to be getting into the redemption thing a lot more than Spike or his blue partner in crime. In fact, she seems to have it more together than Angel, and he has a lot more practice."

Faith grumbled unintelligibly under her breath, tapping one foot on the ground. "I feel like such a spaz, you know?"

"I know what being a spaz feels like, yeah."

"I mean, every time I open my mouth I end up planting my foot in it."

"It happens," replied Xander. "Usually it's me doing it, though."

* * *

Spike glanced at his watch and cursed. "I'm running out of time, here. We've only six hours left before that spell wears off and Willow can track us with magic again. Only three hours before my friends at Interpol attack the safehouse… once they've done that, there's no way they won't figure out we've left the country."

Harmony sighed. "You want me to call Angel, lure him to the meeting point?"

"Yeah."

* * *

And deep underneath the ruins of Sunnydale, in the dusty destruction of a town, the dormant hellmouth quivered. The ones that were still active did more than quiver. They shook. The news agencies began reporting on the series of bizarre earthquakes within an hour.

Nobody saw the news. Nobody was watching for it.


	24. Murder most foul

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 24: Murder most foul

* * *

Spike checked his watch, and glanced to Dana. His face was tight, and she shook her head. "No!" she insisted.

"We're running out of time, kiddo," he grumbled under his breath, glancing back at Xander. "I have to tell him."

Dana sighed. "Okay, I'll stop Faith."

Spike headed for Xander, walking up to him and grabbing him with both hands, settling them on Xander's shoulders. Xander let out a gibbering yell, an instinct left over from Spike's vampire days. "What?" He tried to wriggle out of Spike's grip, but Spike held on firmly.

"I have to talk to you," muttered Spike. "Alone." He dragged Xander away from Faith.

Faith sighed, moving to follow them. Dana moved into her path, holding up a hand. "It's okay. Spike just has some advice about fatherhood that he wants to give Xander," she said.

Faith wasn't happy about it, but decided to just go with it. The worst that could happen was Spike giving Xander crummy advice, and even if that happened, it would probably be better than any advice she could give. And with how nervous Xander was about being a father, it might help his state of mind.

Spike walked Xander into the other room and pushed him into a chair. He remained standing, breathing deeply, and closed his eyes. "Lord, you're stupid!" he growled.

Xander just stared at Spike. He wasn't altogether surprised to hear an insult out of Spike's mouth. It was pretty normal. "Is that all?"

"I've been dropping hints left and right. I told Angel to give you that stupid prophecy, and let you study it for yourself. That should have been enough. Should have been enough to let you see the truth. Did you ever read it?"

"Just to the part about the mother and the Cyclops, I guess. What?"

Spike sighed again. "We've been repeating something, often and loudly. Hoping you would hear it, and that Angel wouldn't. Of course, given how smart he is, that was a foolish hope at best, wasn't it?"

"What are you talking about?"

Spike leaned over Xander. "I'm talking about your child, your daughter. Have you thought of a name? If not, just go with Eternity. That's her role, her life. You might as well reinforce that."

"What?"

"Just listen, for now. What is the one thing I have told you time and time again? I have told you that either you or Angel is going to die, because of Faith. Of course, that's not quite how the prophecy puts it. The prophecy says one of you will triumph, and the other will die. Does that sound familiar? One lives, one dies? Maybe if you know how the sentence before that was about you arguing about how the child will be raised it makes more sense."

Xander felt his blood run cold. "You're kidding, right?"

"Up till now people have been leaning on the whole thing about Angel having influence. But Angel can't read Latin; he just reads the translation, the English. That word, influence? It could mean changing her. It could mean turning her. Making her a vampire, you see?"

Now Xander was actually physically shaking. It surprised him, even though he hated Angel so much. Almost as much as Spike. "You're not… it can't… I mean…"

"Knowing that, you're probably wondering why I haven't killed Angel yet. Well, truth be told, I've thought about killing him. But ultimately, I don't think I could. How would that influence your girl? Beyond that, I think you need to triumph. Otherwise I don't think you can save your daughter. Are we clear?"

"You want me to kill Angel."

"And you'd better do it now, while he's still struggling to figure out his part in all this, before he realizes what to do."

"Y…yeah."

"I'll keep Faith busy. I can do that, at least. Because she won't like it."

"Yeah."

"Okay, I had Harmony call Angel and tell him to meet me in a pub. The address is programmed into the car's GPS thingie. Go take the car and find him. You have the advantage. There are weapons in the car."

"Yeah."

Xander stood up slowly, still shakily, then ran out the door.

Spike watched him go, his face frozen into a mask of self-hatred. Dana came into the room and stood beside him, watching him carefully.

"There are times," she said, "when I wish I was less sane."

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

"I wish we didn't have to lie to him like that."

"I have to. Have to! He has to figure this out on his own. Angel has to figure it out on his own. Otherwise we'll get sucked in along with the two of them, and that'll mean we'd die."

"Even though that part was just a lie."

"Actually, it was a mis-leading truth. But once they started studying prophecy on their own they'd find out that wasn't in any of the ones I let them have. I kept that one to myself."

"Ah."

"I just hope Dawn isn't poring over the ones I did give them. There's a big old clue in that, and she's the only one who knows enough to spot it."

"Which clue?"

"The one about mortal combat, naturally. And Dawn knows all about my stint with the Mugato people, she understands the power that kind of magic has."

"What if this goes wrong? What if he kills Angel, or Angel kills him?"

"I don't think Xander is capable, and I hope to God Angel isn't that far gone yet."

* * *

Xander got there first, and set up on the roof with the sniper rifle. He had no idea if these bullets would actually kill Angel, but he hoped they would slow the vampire down. That might give him a chance.

He was trying to stick to distance weapons, to give himself an advantage, but those were tricky with just one eye.

Angel was approaching from the south, walking on the sidewalk with Nina. Xander felt a twinge of guilt about that. This was a horrible thing to do to her.

Then he remembered what Spike had said, and buried it. Sometimes bad things happened, as Dana had said. You had to deal with them, with the harsh realities.

He just hoped he would be enough.

It was hard to draw a bead in this dim light, but he managed it. He fired quickly, as soon as he had a good shot. The shot was muffled by the enormous barrel, but it was still a loud crack. It caught Angel in the shoulder, twirling him around like a top and dropping him to the ground.

Xander reloaded quickly. By the time the bullet was in the chamber Angel was off the ground and running, having pushed Nina behind a car. By the time Xander had grabbed the crossbow sitting next to him Angel was at the base of the building, heading up a fire escape. Xander snapped the crossbow up to point at the top of the fire escape, and pulled the trigger.

Angel was coming up with such speed that he couldn't stop. So he didn't, snatching the bolt out of the air with one hand as he rushed up to Xander, kicking him away from the gun. Xander let out a shriek that wasn't at all macho. The crossbow went clattering across the roof.

Xander grabbed a stake out from his pocket, trying to get to his feet. Angel lashed out, knocking the stake away.

Both of them were far too focused on their conflict. Angel didn't bother asking any questions; the bloodlust in him right now precluded it. They should have noticed that they weren't alone, that they were surrounded by men dressed in black.

Angel moved in, grabbing Xander by the wrists. He was in game face now, any hint of humanity gone. He moved in to try to bite Xander, and that was when the men raised their hands.

Everything around them disappeared in a flash of white.

* * *

Faith knew Spike was lying. But she had no idea what the truth of the matter was, and she had no idea if she could fight off Illyria, Dana and Harmony long enough to beat it out of him.

He just sat there holding that book and nodding his head back and forth, sighing and groaning as if he was in pain. She hoped he really was in pain.

He'd said that Xander was fine, that he needed to talk to Angel about the prophecy. That it was pointless for her to go with him, as the smell of her might set Angel off again.

All very fine, but there was a reason Xander hadn't said it. The reason being that none of it was true.

And Spike might be a good liar, but not that good. Not good enough to fool her. Not more than once or twice, anyway.

Spike sighed. "It's started."

Harmony shivered. "Oh, I can feel it. Nasty, dark magic, huh? Glad I'm on your side now."

Faith knew instantly something was up. She wished she knew some way to make them tell her what was up.

* * *

Angel tried to struggle, to fight, but he was outnumbered, and outgunned. He could catch one crossbow bolt, or even two. He could fight up to five or six demons at a time. But he couldn't catch nine or ten crossbow bolts while fighting twenty demons.

Not without some kind of element of surprise or some other Angelus-like gimmick to give him an edge.

So instead of doing what Spike would do and leaping into action as they were teleported into this strange room filled with enemies, he raised his hands and grinned. "Well, well. You finally show your faces."

There was a single man standing there, an ordinary human. He was clearly in charge, which was strange. Most demons didn't just take orders from humans.

The human grimaced. "Well, you made it in one piece. Which one is the vampire, Angel?"

Angel cleared his throat. "That's me."

"I've brought you here to offer you a deal, sir."

Angel considered it. "Well, that's very generous of you. Could you explain that a little better? I mean, with your terms and all."

Xander groaned, rubbing his forehead. "I think his terms will be that you kill me."

"No, I'm pretty sure it's the opposite," said Angel. "Because I was pretty much on course to do that, and he stopped that by bringing us here."

"It's more complicated than that, I fear," replied the man. "You see, my hands were tied by prophecy up till this point. Specifically, the one prophecy I've made very sure that nobody else on this earth knows about. Shall we take a little walk? I'd like to show you."

Angel sighed. "Sure."

"This was prophesied too," said the man, leading the way. "That you would fight, and that fight would lead you to me. I'm sure the prophesy had something else in mind, but I thought that this would be the best way."

Xander's jaw dropped. "That fighting would lead us to you? That was… oh my god! Spike lied to me… again! And I bought it… again!"

"Dear lord," muttered Angel, borrowing Giles' favorite phrase. "You really did, didn't you? What did he tell you?"

"That you'd turn Eternity," replied Xander without thinking.

The man leading the way stumbled and nearly fell, only just managing to catch himself. "Yes, here we are," he said, leading them into a large domed room. In the middle stood a table with a glass cover, and a single sheet of paper was under it.

Angel sighed. "You're part of the Fellowship of Eternity, naturally."

"Yes. We've been waiting for Eternity for a very long time."

"Ah," said Xander. He was trying to control his anger, taking his cues from Angel, who was being impassive. Trying to learn something, maybe.

Angel grinned, a huge soulless grin that would have looked more in place on his face the year he had tried to eat Xander. "There are a number of things that I know. First and foremost, I know that this page of prophecy will torment me if I let it. Mind if I read it?" He moved forward, leaning over it. "My, my, my. The guardian will turn, the Cyclops will rise, lots of movements. Verbs everywhere. Oh, this must be Spike. He Who Turned Back. Very mysterious. I don't see why you had to hide all this?"

"Don't you?" asked the man, amused. "The reason I asked you here is because you two have the power, between you, to change the world. I've spent a very long time thinking about the way the world ought to be, if it were rebuilt. Have you? Can you imagine a perfect world? We have that power, right now."

Xander really wanted something to start making sense. When he'd come in here, his world upside down, he'd thought killing Angel was the one thing he had to do. But he wasn't sure about that any more. Spike might have been telling the truth, after all. Or not. It was so hard to tell.

But now there was this place, these secrets. It was all so complicated. He wished somebody could just tell him what was going on.

Angel's eyes hadn't moved from the prophesy, even once he was done mocking it.

Xander tried talking. Buying Angel some time to give him a signal, to figure it all out. "A perfect world? With, like, sex for all, and no war? No religion, no heaven above, no hell below, that kind of thing?"

The man sighed, dropping his head into one hand. All the demons had followed them into this room, noted Xander, but they were standing back, respectfully. It was very strange. "Sex for all? My god, are you some kind of retard? I'm talking about rebuilding society, not fulfilling your wet dreams!"

"Too right, I have Faith for that sort of thing," said Xander. "No, I mean, a place where people's lusts are fulfilled. Wants. Needs. Or has it occurred to you that other people have wants and needs? Maybe in your perfect world they wouldn't. Or would it be perfect for people other than you too?"

The taunting was easy. He'd saved all this up for Spike.

And they hadn't searched him and Angel when they had transported them to this place. He could feel the weight of a knife in his back pocket, and a gun tucked under his shirt. A little pistol, but still more firepower than Angel had, probably.

He had intended to use it on Angel. The irony that he would now be trying to save Angel with it did not seem funny in the least. Those hours he'd spent gearing up to kill Angel had been some of the most excruciating of his life. While he hated Angel, and had for years, he knew how hard it would have been for Buffy, for Faith. It would have destroyed his friendship with the first, and possibly his relationship with the latter.

And he would have hated himself forever more for taking down an ally in such a cowardly way.

But for his daughter… yes, he would do it again in a heartbeat. Even if it was just Spike saying it was necessary. Because the former vampire was usually right.

The guy cleared his throat. "Okay, yeah, you are a retard. A complete retard. Look, we're talking about ultimate power here. And, whether you like me or not, you have the power to steer it! I mean, the ultimate steering power! Laid out in prophecy! You will be reworking the world with every word you give Eternity, whether you like it or not. This is not about whether or not it will be rebuilt, but about thinking about how you want it to end up! Okay?"

Xander giggled. All his life he had been just a second stringer, and now he was second stringer to something so important even the second stringer was worth kidnapping. That was wild. Not that it was the first time he had been kidnapped, but the first time that it was because he had power, not because he was a tasty snack.

Angel straightened up. "You hid this because it contains three little words," he said, wonder in his voice.

Xander moved closer. "What words? What words? Oh, god, what words?"

Angel laughed. "Because, yeah, it wasn't enough that good guys and bad guys alike were going to try to kill her. Once we found out about that we'd probably kill each other trying to keep that from happening. Probably that's why Xander was trying to kill me."

"What? What is it?" demanded Xander.

"Just a little bit of cheap phrasing, the kind of neo-heroic stuff we all love so much. But you knew once Spike and I saw this, we would know exactly what it was all about."

The man moved back, a little antsy. Xander took a second to size him up. He looked old, and he looked weak, but that didn't necessarily mean he couldn't kick Xander's butt. He might be a vampire, or a demon in disguise, or any one of a million things.

Angel smashed the glass cover with a fist, snatching the page of prophecy. The human watching them jumped, his eyes opening wide. "Hey!"

"Your daughter, her power," seethed Angel. "It's not what I thought, not at all. Not what I had been defending against. Did Spike know about this? He must have. He tried to get Xander to fight me, to face me, so he had to know what that would trigger."

"Magic in betrayal," sighed the older man. "It's very powerful. Some of the best stuff."

"We're doing it, right now, Xander," said Angel. "We're giving your daughter her magic. We were wrong; she doesn't have it already, it isn't fated. Spike is jumping us through the hoops. The battle in Denver. This betrayal. This is how she gets the power!"

The human danced from side to side. "I really doubt that. Without that page of prophecy you just took he couldn't have any idea what we were doing."

Xander was trying to catch up with them. "How? How could we be doing that?"

"It's complicated, but basically, the whole thing with the two of us destroying each other, or protecting the baby? That's not what the prophecy means. 'They will build.' Those three little words… We've created our own mess, here."

Angel rolled his shoulders slightly, looking back at the demons. "What's more, this lot plans to use us to give her even more powers. We're their conduits."

The man watching them sighed. "Yes, that is, in fact, the sum total of why you're here. I'm glad you're not completely stupid."

Angel's face shifted them, his eyes flashing with an unearthly light, his bones grinding and crunching. His fangs came out, and he grinned, displaying them proudly. "Time for me to show you exactly what goes bump in the night, then," he said.

The human threw a hand up and lightning arced from it, a bright flash of light and power that ripped across Angel's chest and threw him to the ground. Xander winced back, the obvious Palpatine jokes not quite forming in his brain as the wizard pointed a hand at him. "I'm good, I'm not going to do anything!" squeaked Xander.

The wizard hesitated, lowering his arm. Xander pulled the gun out of his belt quickly, firing.


	25. At heart

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 25: At heart

* * *

When it came right down to it, Xander realized suddenly, he was Angel.

Oh, sure, a few details were different. One was a centuries-old killing machine who drank blood and burned up in sunlight. A little difference like that could easily blind you to the real similarities.

Similarity number one; they hated being screwed around with by the villains. Yeah, it was bad when you were being chewed on by some demon. Knowing that some demon was trying to make you turn on your friends and kill them? That was a lot more dangerous.

And then, of course, there was their devotion to family and friends. Blind, unthinking devotion. The kind of devotion that had them standing up for Faith right now, even knowing that everybody else thought her daughter might destroy the world.

Xander hadn't wanted to admit that he had instantly understood why Spike and Angel had stuck up for her when this all started. Because he understood them in a way nobody else did.

Because when it came down to it, he had been willing to kill Angel for Faith. And he knew Angel would do the same. They were protectors, first and foremost, no matter how ill-equipped they were for that job.

He wished he'd had this epiphany before. Because then instead of fighting Angel he might have talked to him, and said something smart, and they could have handled this like men.

Instead they were here, being held in a tiny dungeon by a very ticked-off wizard that Xander had shot. In the leg.

Sadly, his aim was still so bad that even given a chance to solve all of their problems, he muffed it. That was incredibly, terribly ironic.

Angel was sulking on the ceiling, where he'd been pacing back and forth. It wasn't actually the ceiling, but from Xander's perspective, hanging upside down like a bat by those too-tight manacles around his feet, it was a funny sight.

"Could you get me down?" asked Xander.

"After that stunt you pulled earlier? You're on your own," replied Angel.

"Hey, Spike totally made me do it."

"That makes you even dumber than I thought."

"I thought you were gonna eat my kid!"

Angel sighed, and continued his pacing. Xander could feel the blood pooling in his head, and the room seemed to be spinning in circles. He tried closing his eyes, but it still spun. "Ugh…"

"Misdirection. Look left, look right, just don't look up," muttered Angel.

Xander was pretty sure Angel wasn't making sense, although in his current state it might have been just him.

Probably it was just him.

He could feel his throat tightening up. Hanging upside down like this couldn't be good for him. He was pretty sure he could die from enough of this, although that might have been a myth. He couldn't remember… not hanging upside down, anyway.

Angel moved closer to Xander, and Xander wondered if the vampire was going to kill him. He had always thought Angel would be the one to kill him, ever since he first met him. Even when facing off with Caleb and the First, it had been in the back of his mind: shouldn't Angel be here?

Because, yes, his hatred for Angel was just that great.

Angel hissed, and grabbed him by the shoulders, yanking hard. The iron bands bit into his ankles, but then the pins holding the shackles to the ceiling gave way to Angel's strength, and Xander collapsed to the floor in a heap.

* * *

Spike was carelessly kicking things over now. Faith thought it was a terrible way to treat his own home, but the others didn't seem concerned at all.

Dana was sitting on the couch, clutching the back of it. "Can I ask something stupid?" she asked Spike.

He kicked a chair over. "Go ahead."

"Why don't we just let Faith sort this out? I'm sure she'd do okay."

"Yeah, but I don't think it's time yet. I'm trying to save lives here—lives she cares about, I might add."

Faith assumed that was Angel and Xander. "You know, I'd really like to know how much of the prophecy crap you've given us is real, and how much you made up."

Spike shrugged. "It hardly matters, at this point. Most of the prophecy stuff is so poorly translated that unless you're familiar with half a dozen demon languages, the real meaning is just not there. Andrew and Dawn working together are the only two who could unravel this… besides me and Connor, that is."

Faith was sitting there quietly. It was taking up all of her energy to sit there quietly when she wanted to help Spike tear the house up, when she wanted to punch Spike in the face. She remembered trading blows with him, back when they were up against the First. At the time, she'd been amazed. Nobody, not even Angel, could take abuse the way he had done. She'd been hit harder than he had done, but she'd never seen somebody rock back from her fists so effortlessly, so stupidly.

It was because he was so focused, she decided. Focused and out of control.

She wished she had figured out earlier how out of control he was. His actions had leveled half of Denver, and his stubborn stupidity was making great strides in destroying the world.

"If my baby really is so bad, you know, …" she started to say.

Harmony cut her off. "Your baby isn't bad! Babies aren't born bad. We make them bad, with every birthday we forget, every time we give them a credit card with a gold limit but no moral guidance about what to buy! Every time we drag them down with guilt but don't bother trying to show them what we really want from them!"

Spike sighed. "And how are your parents, Harm?"

"I dunno. I really haven't seen them since I got turned, you know? I mean, I know, the really killer thing to do would have been to off them, but they were my parents, you know?"

"Yes. Back to Faith's problems, for just a minute… Faith. Kid. The baby really won't go away. If you treat it with hatred and try to reject it, then it'll take that energy and grow into something you don't want to see. Trust me. When you try to reject prophecy, it just comes back with an attitude."

"Spike…"

"Your daughter… Angel's going to turn her into something else, all right? That's written in stone. I wasn't really lying when I told Xander that. But that's how he's going to save the world. That's the way to keep her on the side of goodness. And I know that's counter to everything you've ever known, everything that makes you tick, everything about Xander, but it's what has to happen. I swear to God. And that's the part that would kill your friends, and make them try to stop us. They're already bugged out that she's going to be mostly evil; knowing that the way to stop it is to have Angel change her; that's going to kill them."

* * *

"Spike was right," said Angel, examining the page of prophecy. "I'm going to turn your daughter."

"What?" Xander was fairly sure he'd gone insane. Maybe the concussion that fall had given him was causing massive brain hemorrhaging.

Angel sighed. "'She will be consumed by darkness, and the vampire's kiss will restore balance. The Champion will turn Eternity.' It's pretty much there in black and white."

"Ow. Wait, if Spike didn't have that page of prophecy either…?"

"I'm sure he figured it out from some other source. We've given her all sorts of dark and negative energy… powerful, but black magic. We inadvertently provided all the power his spells need."

"Whose spells?"

"Oh, that guy. The one holding us here. I didn't get his name."

"Oh, him."

"Yeah."

Xander lay back and stared at the dark ceiling. "So you are the bad guy."

"I don't think so. Remember all that stuff about me influencing the daughter, and that stuff about one of us dying? I think that I get it, now. I'll turn her, and that may be what it takes to save the world. Which makes all this really weird."

"What do you mean?"

"If Spike knew what our little fight could do, knew it would give her the power, why not stop it? Why cause it? What kind of time limit is he fighting?"

* * *

Andrew collapsed onto the couch, letting out a sigh of relief. "Well, that's over and done with. Thank god."

"Talking to Buffy isn't that bad," said Dawn, slinking her way onto his lap as gracefully as she could. Considering he was draped over it like a clay-man under a heat lamp, it was harder than it sounded.

Still, rewarding.

Andrew sat up. "Maybe not for you, but I'm the man stealing her precious innocent sister away. She may be okay with that, and even with my incipient geek-ness, but there is still the big-sister urge to crush my larynx. I can see it in her eyes."

Dawn giggled, threading her fingers through his hair. "So, it's your turn to have a flash of brilliance and understand what Spike is really up to. And Willow thinks she's found Faith, because whatever spells Spike had cast on her are wearing out, and some kind of dark spell just got activated in England. We're pretty sure that's part of this."

He chuckled. "My turn? Okay… Spike is messing with some kind of higher power trip, planning to rule the world."

"Eh, weak."

"Okay, Angel?"

"The whole higher power trip isn't really their thing."

"Huh. Okay, that brilliance falls flat."

"Don't worry about it; a lot of other people thought about it. Just because it's possible, given the whole Eternity prophecy."

He sighed, and carefully brushed her hair out of her face. "You know, there's a lot of different possibilities.

"Name one."

"Spike thinks this is the only way to save the world; Angel thinks the same. Xander and Faith think that Spike is right. Maybe Spike thinks that this baby could save the world. Maybe this is the ultimate power to fight evil, and that's got him going. Maybe Spike's being paternal, and can't face this hard choice."

"Ha! Spike's tortured more people while good than Jack Bauer."

Andrew chuckled, nuzzling at her neck. "Okay, what's your best shot in the dark?"

She sighed. "Spike thinks this will give him enough power to ignore us."

"Weak. Spike already ignores us."

* * *

Angel tested the door with his shoulder. "They built this to hold me… just terrific."

Xander was starting to get a handle on what was really going on, which was killing him. He wasn't sure what Spike knew, what Angel knew, or when either of them knew it; but he knew they were both hiding things from him almost obsessively.

Starting with the truth that Angel had known, that he would have a child, that Angel hadn't told him. That should have clued him in, he decided. It was such a simple thing. 'Hey, Xander, you're gonna be a daddy!' 'Xander, that prophecy, guess what it says?'

But Angel had held it back, and insisted he read it for himself. At the time it had been annoying, but in light of events since then, it was chilling.

Xander picked up the page of prophecy Angel had grabbed and read it over a few times, wondering why the Powers That Be had gone to such troubles to hide it from Angel.

He reached the bottom and knew.

"Were you planning on telling me?" he asked Angel, who was trying to lure a guard over to the door.

"What? Yeah, eventually. Can you be quiet? I've got an opening, I think."

"I mean, it is important."

"Yeah, it is. Shush!"

"What? Did you say shush? What are we, ten?"

"If you're not quiet I'll rip your trachea out with my teeth!"

"That's better."

* * *

Nina wasn't entirely sure why she was surprised to find Spike in the house when she got there, out of breath and angry. "Somebody tried to kill Angel and abducted him!" she yelled, staggering in the front door.

Illyria closed the door behind her. "Good."

"Good? What?"

Nina took in the group. Spike had thrown himself down on a couch and was staring moodily at a clock. Faith was standing behind him, looking like she wanted to hit him. Dana was curled up beside him.

But Illyria was keeping watch out the window.

"We've got about ten hours left," said Spike. "Then we'll know, one way or the other. Have a seat, and wait."

"What? Wait for what?" demanded Nina. She hated Spike, just then. Not just a little bit, either. A lot.

Spike glared at her. "I really don't have time to be explaining all of this. It would take more than the scarce few hours we have."

Dana nudged him. "You just don't want to."

He shrugged. "I never claimed to be a saint, love. Just a man who stands and fights."

Dana touched his face gently, with her fingertips. It was barely a caress, probably barely enough to feel. But he smiled and turned his head towards Dana anyway, as if it was so much more than it was.

Nina glared at Faith, who was staring at Spike. That triangular action got old, and she looked around. "Where's Harmony?"

"At the airport, picking Connor up," said Spike. "I'm all out of energy, kids. I'm trying to rest and clear it all out of my system."

Faith cleared her throat. "Spike set Angel and Xander up so they'd fall into the hands of the bad guys; that's why he's not worried at all."

Now Nina thought her head and heart were both going to explode. "What? You did that? All that?"

Spike sighed. "Yes, I did, and I'd do it again, love. Let it go."

"You're the bad guy?"

He rolled his eyes. "A slightly greyer shade of pale, perhaps."

"Huh?" said Dana.

"It's a reference to a song. Before your time. Doesn't matter. Look, Nina, Faith… girls… it's for their own good."

Nina rolled her eyes. She'd heard that line before, usually from Spike, on a lot of occasions. "That's what you say when you punch Angel in the nose!"

"It's for his own good, isn't it? Keeps him from getting too up on himself. Reminds him I'm human and he isn't… bloody ponce."

"What is going on?" demanded Nina. "I feel like I'm in a song and dance number here! Here, we all turn left. Except Spike, he goes the other way and kills a guy! Here, everybody turns right… except Spike! He goes that way and kills another guy!"

"I haven't killed anybody in months now, love. That's Angel, mostly."

"Why?!"

"Because things are bloody messed up. Because your man is two sheets to the wind, and getting worse."

"Two sheets…? Don't you mean…"

"No, I don't. Angel is about to go off his nut. Couldn't you feel that? He already bit you the once!"

She touched her neck self-consciously. "I thought…"

"Think again. It's not his fault. Not really. He's a vampire, and they're using that against him now. They want him to bite Faith, or Faith's kid. They're not too picky which. I've been feeding him sedatives as often as possible, but that only goes so far."

"Who's they?"

"Well, there's a couple of nasty top-secret organizations out to get him… and then our side. Yep."

"Our side?"

"The Powers That Be. The spirits who decide what's what, and what's good. See, if Faith's little girl can be made as powerful as they want her, she'll save the world. If they can make Angel dance their tune, she will remake the whole world in her image. That's something everybody wants. Good guys, bad guys."

"And you, Spike?"

Spike shrugged, glaring at Nina now. "Look, I've just been watching Angel's back, okay? I had to get this done, and fast. There is a time limit."

"What time limit?"

Spike sighed. "The time until Angel goes berserk."

* * *

And Angel went berserk. Xander was completely unsurprised by this development.


	26. Blood

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 26: Blood

* * *

Angel exploded into action, grabbing the guard who had been foolish enough to get too close to him. Xander was bright enough to realize that the demon guard was stronger than Angel, but neither Xander nor the demon had realized how completely insane the vampire was, obviously.

Angel bit the demon, and as it screamed, drained the blood from him.

When the demon toppled to the ground Angel turned and tried to spit the blood out. "Agh! Get over here. Find the keys. He had the keys, and I can't break my way through the door. Get the keys!"

Xander hesitated. Angel's hair was even crispier than usual, his eyes were wild, and he was still in game face. Oh, and his hands were shaking. Xander was really not sure he wanted to get any closer.

As if reading his mind, Angel backed away from the door, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Demon blood is nasty stuff," he said. "All kinds of nasty, and it makes me light-headed."

Xander moved up to the door, sticking his hand through the bars and onto a blood-soaked demon. The blood was hot and warm, despite the demon's reptilian face. "Oh, this is disgusting. I don't see keys."

"They're usually in the pockets," said Angel helpfully.

Xander shuddered. "Yes, putting my hands in another man's pockets is exactly what I wanted to do today."

"Oh, get over it."

* * *

Now Nina was entirely confused. "What?"

Spike sneered at her. "This much dark magic flowing through him, being a conduit for this much power, don't you know what that does to a vampire? It's why being on a Hellmouth makes so many vampires so stupid they think they can take a Slayer. Dark magic is like a drug, love. It pushes him past his limits."

She flushed, hating the way he talked down to her. "I'm not stupid, Spike."

"Says you. All I know is I didn't have to explain this to anyone else here."

"We all know it in our bones," said Dana. "We've all felt it. You have too, but you just didn't realize it. Because you are so separated from your dark side, because the wolf only comes out at special times, you don't get to feel it all the time. You _are _like us. You just aren't like us all the time."

Nina glared at the crazy girl. She couldn't put into words the way she could feel the wolf under her skin, waiting to come out. The way the wolf was with her all the time, not just the full moon. "Look, I'm not stupid. I know you guys don't like me—that I don't fit into your little circle. I'm just Angel's girl, and that's the only reason you pricks put up with me."

Spike perked up at the insult. He always enjoyed a good fight, especially among friends. Yet another thing she hated about him.

Dana sighed. "You're just angry at Spike and trying to start a fight, now. Just let it go."

"Since when are you the voice of reason?" snapped Nina.

Spike chuckled. "You love that lunkhead, don't you? It must be killing you that you can't help him right now."

She bristled. "Love? I didn't say that. Did he say…?"

Dana raised a hand. "No fighting. It's a house rule."

Spike sighed, crossing his arms. "Who said you could make house rules? That rule sucks. You love him, and I can see it, and it doesn't matter, because this is something he needs to do alone. And I don't mean that in the funky new age 'if we help he won't learn anything' way, I mean that we really can't help him. Even if we could get to where he is right now, which I doubt, we'd just be in his way."

* * *

Xander felt like he was in Angel's way.

It wasn't just the way Angel kept yelling at him, or pushing. Or the way Angel kept trying to get around him to fight more demons who were trying to surround them. Xander was used to that.

Angel was going to save his daughter by giving her the one thing Xander didn't want. The one thing he hated beyond any other.

Oh, yeah, the old complex was starting up now.

Angel swirled by Xander, looking around for something else to break. Not finding any demons he petulantly kicked the wall, then started walking again. Xander stopped to grab a knife off one of the demons, but hurried to stay close.

There were worse things than Angel here.

"Where are we?" complained Angel.

"Some kind of dungeon?" The dreariest kind, of course.

"I don't think we're even in the same world any more. That's inconvenient. I hope everything works the same way here…"

"I'm sure it does."

"Not necessarily. In some worlds I can walk in daylight, but the demon gets nastier…"

Xander shook his head. "Sunlight is sunlight, and you're a vampire. I don't get that at all."

Angel shrugged. "I don't have time to mock you for that. Just keep up."

Xander was trying to keep up, but Angel seemed urgent. Not the usual urgency of a fight, but a manic edge. A gleam in his eye that had Xander very, very nervous. He could remember Angel hitting him, a lot. And even if they were old memories, they hadn't faded at all.

And now he had that prophecy in his pocket, the one that said decisively that Angel was going to turn his daughter, and that this was a good thing. That didn't sit well with him at all. He was pretty sure he was going to fight it.

It also said that Xander was going to die. He was fairly certain it was going to be the permanent kind of death too, not the fun kind where you came back a few months later and got to laugh at everybody who'd wasted time crying about you.

Because he wasn't Spike, or Angel, and he didn't have a reboot button.

And his skin was crawling right now in that familiar way. By now he'd figured out that it meant there was magic in the air, although for some reason he'd never really put that together back in the day. Probably because it had never been this bad, this intense. He could almost taste the magic, a tinny taste in the air.

Or that might have been the blood of the demons that Angel had gutted. Whatever.

* * *

Nina wasn't used to Spike not doing anything. That was one of his few traits she liked. People who waited for fate to come to them were just going to get torn up in its teeth. (she'd been using teeth metaphors a lot since becoming a werewolf; it bothered her)

Now he sat there, unnaturally still, and watched the clock morbidly.

Everybody else was restless too, but they weren't doing anything.

"This is what kills me about not being the Big Damn Hero," grunted Spike. "It's time to do something, time to solve the puzzle and bring this whole house of cards tumbling down. It's time for heroics. And I can't do a bloody thing."

Faith was leaning against the wall, and if Spike looked unhappy about this, she looked homicidal. And thanks to Nina's work with Kate back in LA, during the rebuilding after the big fight that had nearly destroyed the city, she knew that Faith was a killer. And not the fuzzy nice kind either, who killed child molesters and murderers. The kind that had killed for no reason.

And the thin layer of reform over her face wasn't hiding the true face under it very well, in Nina's opinion.

Still, this was Angel's friend. Shouldn't she trust his instincts a little?

Not right now, no.

Spike stood up and was pacing now, urgently. "Forty minutes left, kids. What do you think, start without Connor?"

Dana was still sitting on the couch watching him. There was a relationship Nina would never figure out. Even Faith and Xander made more sense than that, to her. Still, Dana was smiling. That was something.

Illyria, by the door, stirred. "You should go downstairs and start alone. It will take some time. He may arrive before you're done. I will stand watch up here."

Spike grimaced. "I'm no good with those stupid things… all right. Yeah."

"What're you doing?" asked Nina.

"Well, you remember how we appropriated a system of magical transportation from the last Big Bad we took down? And gave it to the US government?"

"Uh, no. I was a little busy… you know, with Angel."

"Yeah, sure. Well, we kept the means to replicate our own magic portal. They're quite handy, really."

"Don't you have to be an uber-witch like Willow to pull that off?"

"Not these. They're quite simple, really."

He left, leaving Nina alone with three other girls. She'd hoped that either Faith, or Dana, or maybe even Illyria would go with him. No such luck.

Dana turned her eagle-eyed gaze on Nina, and grinned. "We're not supposed to tell you, but Angel's not the only one close to snapping. Faith's gonna blow soon, and we think she'll kill somebody."

"Will not," mumbled Faith, but there was no heat behind the words. She looked worried.

Dana glanced back at her sister Slayer, and grinned. There was danger in that grin, but also the kind of loyalty Nina had thought until recently she could give Angel. The knowledge that she was a ticking time bomb and he was too was very hard on that loyalty.

It occurred to her suddenly that she was in a room full of other ticking time bombs. And some of them had already gone off a few times. Illyria was a demon-god who had once ruled the world, or something like it, by all accounts. Faith was the rogue Slayer, the one who killed people. Dana was the crazy Slayer.

And Nina was a werewolf.

Maybe she fit right in here. That really didn't help at all.

Faith was fidgeting. Usually that meant death and dying. Illyria stood by the window and stared outside, and Dana was also fidgeting. Nina was pretty certain that their excess energy was nervous energy. That they were scared.

She wished she knew exactly what was scaring them so much.

* * *

They were in a castle.

This bugged Xander for some reason. Maybe it was the whole vampire/castle thing. He'd had more than enough of that with Dracula, who had made Xander his buttmonkey. That was more than enough of that sort of thing.

Still, he reflected, trying to climb down the side of the castle through the tiny window, it could have been worse.

Angel might have made him go first, for instance.

Angel was hanging off the wall below him. "Don't fall; I don't think I could catch you," said Angel.

Now he was just deliberately trying to make Xander more nervous.

Xander searched for a foothold. "Remind me again why we aren't just finding whoever is in charge, killing them, and finding a way home?"

"I'm not telling you. Duh. Come on, let's go."

"I caught the part about me dying, Angel. You aren't trying to change that, are you?"

"No. Come on, let's get out of here."

"What are you doing?"

"I told you, I'm not going to tell you."

"Weird. Don't you think that's a little weird?"

"Just a bit."

Xander struggled to find a handhold in the mossy stones. He wasn't sure how far down the bottom was, and didn't want to look. That way lay vertigo and falling, and some poorly timed jokes about the rocks at the bottom. Maybe a Star Trek V joke, and the only person here to hear it was Angel.

That would be a waste of a good joke.

His fingers slid along the rough rocks, tearing the skin on the ends. The sharp pain was almost enough to make him let go.

Almost. He still had some survival instincts.

* * *

Spike really wished that he was the hero today.

He knew exactly what he would do, and how he would do it. He knew what forces were in play, and he was fully in control of himself.

He knew what to do.

Angel probably had no clue. Or even if he did, he would squander his one great opportunity. He would mess around do something that wasn't well thought out and wasn't at all helpful. He would fly off the handle.

He might even kill Xander.

Spike didn't like the way fate kept conspiring to make him save Xander, or try to save Xander. He didn't even like the dumpy second-stringer (don't think too hard about second-stringers, and where you sit on that scale).

And he hated the way Angel handled this sort of thing (don't think too hard about whether or not you would handle it the same way).

No, what he really hated was having to wait here while it was up to those two to save the world. And their own lives.

So he continued working on his own escape plan, building a portal that would take him to a secure, undisclosed location. He loved that phrase. It was better than 'go hide in a place where electricity was a dream and the locals hadn't heard of hygiene,' even though they pretty much meant the same thing.

* * *

Now that they were on the ground this place looked distinctly unfriendly. Tall trees, lots of underbrush, and the huge castle looming behind them.

"So, behind us is the castle that probably has the only way to get back to our loved ones," said Xander quietly. Not too loud, because Angel was still completely berserk.

Angel sniffed the air around them. "That castle was just to hold us. A big trap. It was empty. Couldn't you feel that, smell it?"

"Um, no. As I'm not currently a vampire… no. And I'm not looking to change that, either!" He couldn't help that last bit. It just shot out.

Angel ducked his head down a bit, but otherwise didn't seem to hear that. "It's time to do some killing, and I don't want you getting in the way. Just stay back when we find somebody, and let me work."

"Right. The whole Lone Wolf thing. You know, I think Spike had that first."

"Spike is a team player. He always has to have a team. I've been doing the alone thing for centuries."

"Uh, right. That's why the Council can't even find out where he is most days."

"That's because he's not really on your side."

"Oh, right. Now he's not a good guy."

"I didn't say that."

"So we're not good guys?"

"That's so black and white. Look, you guys are out pounding ugly demons in the face. He doesn't do that. He doesn't go after bad guys, and he doesn't search out Apocalypse's. All he does is watch you guys, and protect you. Specifically, Faith. He's protecting her even though your team is just seeing the latest Apocalypse rising. He doesn't care, that's not what he watches."

Xander wasn't sure he believed that. Not only did he not trust Spike to protect a goldfish, he was pretty sure that Angel was leaving out something crucial. Something utterly selfish.

After all, this was Spike they were talking about.

"Just stay back," Angel repeated, and lunged forward through the trees, vanishing in a second, leaving Xander alone in the dark wondering if sunup would kill Angel.

There was a shriek of pain, but Xander waited.

For all of five seconds.

He charged in, raising his hands in what he hoped was a threatening way.

Of course, everybody but Angel was dead already. Angel was standing there, covered in blood. Demon blood and human blood, Xander noted. He looked happy, almost dreamy.

"Now might be a good time for us to cut you a few stakes," he told Xander.

* * *

It shouldn't have surprised anybody. After all, they'd had ample warning.

They were still surprised.

In retrospect, Faith decided, it was very predictable. Spike's vague indications of his plans should have been enough to let her know that despite the very nice way he had taken care of her up till now he wasn't really the good guy. Would the good guy have harbored a baby who might or might not be the anti-Christ? No, they wouldn't.

So now she was in a mud hut with Spike, watching Harmony kill a goat and drink its blood. In the meantime, Illyria and Dana were out checking the perimeter of their 'secure, undisclosed' location.

"Seriously, you suck," she told Spike.

"Not since I was a vampire, love."

She sighed. "I was hoping we were going to stage some coup. I mean, you did almost declare war on another dimension… and I know in the past you destroyed another dimension."

"Yeah, well, large heroic gestures are nice. Today, staying alive and safe trumps that. Because of the way we traveled here, there's no way for anybody to trace us. Because of where we are, there's no way for a locator spell to find us. I've tested this."

"So you found the perfect hole to hide in with all your fear and issues."

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Careful, you'll make me take up smoking again."

"Spike… I'm not a 'run away' kind of person. I can't be."

"Well, just till the baby's born, love," he said carelessly.

"That's months away."

"Yeah, could be."

"Spike!"

"Look, Angel's off his nut somewhere. Hopefully he kills the bad guys and not Xander, but Xander's got an expiration label on his butt, and the clock is ticking. I'm not sure I can save Xander this time around."


	27. Soul

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 28:

* * *

Spike backed away from Faith quickly, all too aware that she could kill him with her bare hands. "I've been searching for answers ever since we started," he said quietly. "I thought Angel knew something. I thought Lindsey knew something. Or the Powers That Be. Or maybe even the remaining Wolfram and Hart folks. Every step of the way I've been blocked."

She continued advancing. "Tell me why we aren't trying to save Xander now," she said coldly.

"We are! Prophecy is tricky, love, you know that. I know that being near you is the worst thing for Xander right now—the worst possible thing. You're going to be the death of him, do you get that? That's what we're fighting. I let Angel and Xander get kidnapped because I needed them away from you. I'm trying to save him—you have to believe that!"

"Why? You never liked him."

"I staked Dru for him!" screamed Spike, stopping his retreat, his face flushing. "I may not like him, but I'd do just about anything to save him—and you know it!"

"Why?" asked Faith.

Dana moved between them, putting a hand on Faith's arm. The others just watched silently, not wanting to get between the two super-charged and emotional Slayers.

"You know why," said Dana, her tone light, her words dark. "The same reason you'd die for Angel or Buffy and anybody else. We're not like the others, the heroes like Angel. We're not good enough to save the world. But maybe we can save them—if we pay the price."

"I've paid that price too many times!" snarled Spike. "I have nothing left to prove. I proved myself to Buffy, I proved myself to me—all that's left is this duty, this cold, heavy duty, to always save the Slayer. Look, I know and you know that the baby growing in you is so powerful it'll save or destroy the world—and probably destroy it without Angel. And all the shades of grey in the world won't change that. So no matter what else happens, I have to save Angel—it's not optional, it's not something that I can let slide. And that makes your boy the optional one of the two—whether we like it or not."

"I won't—I can't pick between them!" snarled Faith.

Spike sighed, moving closer, standing right behind Dana. He looped an arm around Dana's waist, holding her tight. "Sometimes we don't get to pick, Faith. Sometimes it all goes wrong."

"This sucks!" screamed Faith, shaking off Dana's arm. "How long have you known?"

Spike shrugged. "I've suspected for a long time. Every bit of the prophecy that I found said bad things. A lot of them said you were going to die too; I've been working hard to save you."

"If we can't save Xander, I don't care!" snarled Faith.

Spike lowered his head, resting it on Dana's shoulder. "Faith… hiding in this mud hut with Connor and the girls is probably the only way to save you. I did everything I could, pulled every string I knew how, before we came here. I set events in motion that'll shake this world. Right now we need to sit here and not move."

Connor came loping into the mud hut. "Good news! The windmill is working again, and when we have power, we'll have hot water. And that means showers for everybody! Do I rule or what?"

Nina and Illyria were the only ones to even look at him. Spike, Dana and Faith remained frozen in their little tableau, fully caught up thinking about Angel and Xander.

* * *

Xander examined his reflection in the pool of water. His beard was coming in nicely, thanks to their lack of anything to shave with, and between the eyepatch and beard he was starting to look like a real pirate.

"Arrr," he said, testing the sound.

Angel stomped a boot down into the pool. "Enough play time," he said irritably. "I think our prisoners are ready to talk."

Xander sighed, rubbing his forehead. He could smell his own stench at this point, it had been so long since he had bathed... He hadn't had a hot meal in what felt like years. And, worse, he missed Faith horribly.

He was in just the right frame of mind to torture somebody.

He stomped his way down into the clearing, through the spiky trees they'd picked out as a good hiding place. One of the captives was some kind of a demon, a purple-skinned little monster with a sneer. The other one looked human, but was far stronger than Xander. The third one was a girl, and she had nearly clocked Xander.

None of them were any match for Angel. It seemed to Xander and Angel was getting stronger and tougher the longer they were here, evolving into some kind of super-vampire, and it scared him.

And Xander was going to die, and Angel was going to turn his daughter into a monster to save the world. Xander couldn't believe any of this.

"Okay, folks, I'm in a really bad mood and I would really like to get some answers from you—and quickly," said Xander. He glanced to Angel. "Otherwise my friend Angelus here will kill you. And if he doesn't, I'll make you wish you were dead."

The demon sneered at him. "Do your worst!" he hissed.

Xander took out his knife. "So, do you guys know each other? I'm guessing if you know each other the easiest thing for me to do would be to start carving on the girl. Most guys really can't stand that, right?"

The human male twitched, glancing at the girl, and Xander grinned at him, knowing he'd hit a nerve. "Oh, there we go! We have a macho man! I bet I could cut on you all day and you wouldn't say anything, but not if I start on her, right?"

"What do you want to know?" asked the man, his tone wretched. Xander pondered that.

"Well, let's see. Where are we?"

"You are in Daishen!" barked the demon. "Leave her alone, she has nothing to do with this!"

"And she'll continue to have nothing to do with this as long as you cooperate," said Xander soothingly. "So, that big castle back that way, whose is it?"

Their prisoners all hesitated, exchanging a meaningful look. Xander moved closer to the girl, and the human male yelled out his answer. "It belongs to the wizard, Urlok! Please, don't hurt her!"

Angel frowned, rubbing his forehead. "And the fellowship of Eternity?"

The prisoners all changed colors. The purple alien grew brighter, while both humans went grey. Finally the female spoke. "It is a great offense to speak the names of the masters. They would kill us in an instant if we spoke it."

Angel nodded sagely. "Yes, I thought as much. Where are the masters?"

Their captives shrank back, but they couldn't help the glance they all shared, a meaningful glance that gave away their knowledge as surely as just telling Xander. Xander sighed, waving the knife. "Look, kids, I am not a bad man. Or an unreasonable man. I know, I know, the masters will kill you… if they find out. Do you think I'm going tell them? Do you think Angel will tell them?"

Xander knew that vampires still grew hair. It was as illogical as the stolen blood flowing through them. But apparently they grew it slower than normal people, because Angel still looked just as perfect and flawless and so blasted cool. And he glared down at the three, and they folded.

The girl nodded meekly towards the north, or what would have been north back on earth. "Shobeashi, their regent, sits on with the portal in Torkra."

Xander wished he could understand every other word they said. Angel just nodded. "Cut them free," said Angel.

"Oh, come on, I just tied them up!" protested Xander.

"Cut them free. We have to start walking."

* * *

The truly terrible thing was the consistency of it all. Every time Giles thought the world had settled again and he was on firm footing Spike would kick it right out from under his feet, sending him tumbling into this strange world Spike loved, full of grey shades and terrible decisions.

Giles had always considered the job of protecting the Slayers to be his own. Spike also, apparently, considered that job uniquely his; Giles wondered if Spike had ever considered truly being a Watcher, and not just acting that way for Dana, but for the whole band of Slayers.

The idea was frightening. Giles' own tenure as a Watcher had been completely unorthodox and extremely bizarre. He could only imagine how terrible a Watcher Spike would have made.

So he sat here alone in the dark, trying to make sense of the tape Spike had sent him. Hours of rambling, with important clues scattered throughout. He was certain Spike had mailed it to him simply to distract him, much like the journal's dictating Dana's progress, but he couldn't help listening all the way through.

"There's something very special in all Slayers—a potential, if you will. All that power, all that energy. Take that, and add that special little spark Buffy has, and you have an extraordinary Slayer. Or add a little grit, like Faith has. Or add a little knowledge of what it's like on the other side… again, Faith. But imagine adding more than that, Giles—aw, I'll pick this up again later. What now?"

There was a series of clicks on the tape. Then Spike resumed his one-sided dialogue.

"Things are spiraling out of my control, Ripper. My fragile truce with the Powers is sliding away. Do you know that they brought me back to life this last time to replace Angel? Bloody nits. They found a loophole and wanted me to be their puppet. I'm nobody's puppet."

There was a moment of silence while Spike rustled with some papers. Giles glanced down at his sparse notes indicating the things of import Spike had said, and added a few sentences about the PTB.

Then Spike resumed. "Ah, you knew that. Anyway, you remember everything you learned about me that last year in Sunnydale, before I died? I left a few gaps in there, you know. In all my histories. I think you should know at least one small part.

"I wasn't planning anything back then, but the pieces were falling into place for the big disaster, even then. Did you see them? Your boy Xander was accumulating the big magic he needed, through Willow, through Buffy… Faith was, too. The two of them were in a battle to see which one could get the most juice pumped into them."

Giles wrote that down carefully. He would check with Willow, but he suspected Spike was right.

"We did this, Giles. You and me. Every step of the way, every decision; we drove them to this. I didn't realize, at the time. I was too focused on saving Angel, not realizing what I was bringing him back for; too focused on saving Xander, not realizing the cost. Too focused on saving Faith from herself.

"And above all else, Giles, I was too focused on keeping you in the dark."

Giles put down his pen, feeling almost like a voyeur. This was more insight into Spike that he had ever seen before, and he didn't like it.

"You have to understand that, right? You tried to get Robin to kill me because you knew Buffy had a soft spot for me, and that was dangerous. Well, I saw all your hard spots, and I knew you'd do what had to be done.. and that was more dangerous than you can ever understand. If you drove Faith away the way you drove me away you could have ended the world. I had to take that possibility out of the equation.

"So while you worried about the end of the world, I stacked up players against you. I stacked up the government, I stacked up Riley, I stacked up vampires and various other boogeymen. I did what I had to."

Giles stopped the tape. Sometimes listening to Spike's hard truths made him hate the vampire turned man; but sometimes those painful insights actually made him hate himself.

He wasn't sure which was worse.

* * *

Connor wasn't sure exactly who he was supposed to be siding with these days. He had so many conflicting emotions that if he stopped to suss them out he might never get started again.

So he sat alone in the rain and thought about how screwed up his life was these days. At least these days he had a good sense of just how screwed up it was, and the difference between normality and oddness. He'd lacked that before.

Also, he knew what happiness was. When he had been raised in a hell dimension the closest he'd come was contentment. Now he had something to compare to. Sometimes it was depressing, sometimes it was reassuring, but he knew he had a family out there, a little sister, parents. They weren't really his, but they loved him.

Spike, who was a lot like a brother to Connor, was even more screwed up, but, fortunately, just as aware of it.

These were the solid pillars he hung on in this time. His fake parents, his fake brother. They were the things he could rely on. He knew what Spike would do, sometimes before Spike did. They were alike in every way, from being a part of Angel, his progeny, to their mild hatred for Angel. Their hero worship of Angel that they just wouldn't admit to.

And, above all else, that nagging feeling at the back of their head that Angel's last girlfriend was really their last girlfriend.

That part was the twisted part, and the reason both he and Spike kept Nina at arm's length. The last thing they needed was to make their relationships with Angel any more complicated.

Still, understanding Spike was one thing. Liking what he was doing? That was something else again.

They were here in the Bermuda Triangle, the one place on earth nobody could find them, in a mud hut Connor had built. They were alone in the world because no matter what else happened, they had to be. Connor understood the reasons just as well as Spike. He knew that the entire future of the earth was hanging in the balance.

That didn't mean he liked it any more.

He knew right now his father was hovering on the precipice, ready to go over the edge once more and be evil. He wanted to help him, to be there. To support him.

And that was the one thing he couldn't do.

It was tearing him apart all over again now. So he sat alone, outside, and let them work it out inside. Let Faith try to understand. Let Spike try to reassure.

He sensed Harmony before he heard her, that little buzzing sense of the presence of a vampire. He'd always been able to do that, as long as he could remember.

Harmony sat down and considered him. "Hey, kid. What's up?"

"Oh, just sitting in the rain and thinking."

She nodded. She was wearing a plastic slicker over her clothes, but the front of her shirt was still soaked. He kept his eyes up on her face with a supreme effort of will.

"So, you're out here trying to second-guess Blondie Bear?" she asked lightly.

He shrugged. "I know he's doing the right thing; it just doesn't feel right."

Harmony chuckled. "Ain't that the truth. I was just, um, checking on the goats."

"Go easy, now. We only have a six-month supply," said Connor.

Harmony shrugged. "Do you know what Spike promised me?"

"He promised that if you tried, he'd help," replied Connor. "So, are you ready?"

Harmony shuddered. "I don't know. It's scary, you know? Going out into a place I never anticipated. I never meant to be good, you know. I just wanted to survive, and I knew Angel and Spike could survive. All that time helping Spike, I never thought in terms of doing good… not until I drank his blood, and I knew I was doing bad. I mean, not just theoretically, but really bad."

"How's the soul doing?" asked Connor.

"Uncomfortable. And it's… he warned me it wouldn't change much, not right away, but it did change a few things. It made me angry. It made me sad. Everything was so much deeper than it used to be. And now… now I can't make heads or tails of the world!"

"That sounds like it's working just fine, then."

Harmony sighed. "I can't believe I went and got a soul, after all that. After all the times, all the things…"

"You're a hero," said Connor quietly. "Like it or not. We don't do it because it's fun or exciting; we do it because to not do it would be unacceptable. If we gave up, there would be nothing to stop the darkness."

She swallowed. "I don't think I'm adequate to stop the darkness!" she whispered.

"You won't ever be alone in this. As long as I stand, I'll be there. As long as Spike stands, he'll be there. You know that. Angel too. We're Champions; and as long as we draw breath—or don't, in some cases—we'll stand."

* * *

Angel stared down at the broken bodies of his latest victims, and realized with a sickening lurch in his stomach that he was a villain.


	28. Cold Death

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 28: Cold death.

* * *

Xander and Angel stormed the enemy base. Or, to be more precise, Angel stormed it while Xander provided backup. Well, to be even more precise than that, Angel stormed it while Xander ran in behind him, trying not to look too much like a target.

The wizard wasn't around, which was good. Xander was pretty sure the wizard was ready to kill him on sight, since he'd shot the guy in the leg.

Various soldiers with crossbows and stakes were waiting for them. None of them were a match for Angel. He was ducking under swings, rolling around and using his hands as lethal weapons.

And his teeth.

Xander just tried to keep his head down, worried more about getting in Angel's way than anything else.

Angel was wilder, more feral, and more brutal than Xander had ever seen him. He was starting to look more like Spike. He was starting to act more like Angelus.

Xander was starting to suspect that Angel was really truly nuts. Not just the fun kind of 'oh, he's gonna do what it takes to save the girl' nuts, but a full-on 'I don't care who I kill as long as I get to kill' nuts.

When the final defender fell Angel headed inside, and he looked unhappy. He stopped at the door, turning back to Xander. "I know I've said this already, but just so we're clear, I do not in any way consider Spike to be like a son to me."

"Wha—what?"

"I don't consider him family, just because he was part of my vampire lineage. And just because I'm going to turn your daughter doesn't mean I'm going to be there for her. Are we clear?"

Xander felt rage building up inside him. "So who's supposed to teach her how to be a good vampire with a soul? Spike?"

Angel snorted. "If that's what it takes. Look, I've been a failure as a hero every step of the way. Every time I think I'm winning I lose it and go back three steps. It's been a constant struggle every step of the way!"

Xander felt the rage dissipate. "Are you planning to do something stupid?"

"No. Maybe. I just… I can't fight this battle forever. If I don't go out in a blaze of glory now, I might just… go out in a blaze of hellfire. There's no more redemption left for me, not with the Shanshu prophecy gone, and there's no more chance of me coming back from this. It's like… like a bender. I've killed humans and drunk their blood since we started this, Xander. There's no coming back from that. I nearly killed Nina. I can't fight my own nature forever."

Xander swallowed, trying to hold back any emotions. He didn't want to ever feel sorry for Angel, no matter how much it was coming home to him how much they had in common. "I'm the one who isn't going to survive, Angel!"

"You might die, but if you do I plan to raise you again," replied Angel.

"What?"

"Oh, you thought I'd let SPIKE of all people teach your daughter how to be a good vampire? You have to be kidding me."

"I don't understand. You just said it's a battle you can't win—and you think I can?"

Angel glared at him. "Yeah, I do. It's not just… it's not just that I'm a vampire! Don't you get that? Didn't you see what Spike was like as a vampire, with or without a soul? It's me. My soul, my person, my faults… It's me."

And suddenly everything fell into place for Xander, everything made sense. A little bit of sense that he had never understood. The reason above all others why he hated Angel and Spike. That little self-loathing that reminded him of himself. That ability to be more that he always envied.

"You think that's so much?!" demanded Xander. "I, I never had a chance to be the hero, you know! I never had the powers to try! And I failed anyway, I failed and got An killed! I failed every time! My faults are as bad as yours, but at least you, at least you had the power to try to be better! The ability to fight, to save people, to protect them—all the things I ever wanted! All the power I ever wanted! And you'd throw that away because it's too hard for you. Screw you, Angel!"

Angel backhanded him, the fist taking him off his feet and slamming him into the ground. Xander struggled his way to his feet, staring at the vampire, who was slowly changing into game face. Only the vampiric nature was stronger here, in this dimension; the transformation continued, and Angel became more and more demonic. New ridges formed along his cheekbones and across his forehead, and horns jutted up out of his already spiky hair.

Xander waited for his death to come, but instead the monster turned around and headed into the building, unleashing his rage and power on the people inside. And even though they were definitely bad guys, Xander still felt a lurch of sorrow and pain as he heard the screams start.

* * *

Giles came running down the stairs towards Andrew, who was trying to finish up a phone conversation. "I'll call you back," said Andrew upon seeing the older man running. Giles running was always more important than anything else.

"If Spike ever writes a book, read the last page first!" yelled Giles as he hurried past.

Andrew jogged after him. Giles was heading for Dawn's suite, which meant it was something very important indeed. "Is this about those tapes?"

Giles burst in on Dawn, who was sitting at her desk on the computer.

She glanced up at him blankly. "Immediate emergency, or can it wait till I move the troops around to try to find Spike?"

"We can call off the hunt for Spike," replied Giles, doubling over and putting his hands on his knees to try to catch his breath. "Oh, god… he, ah, left clues."

"There was something useful on those tapes? I find that hard to believe."

"He, ah, hid it at the end, so as to buy a little time. He gave several interesting clues as to other organizations, and, uh… never mind." Giles took a deep breath, straightening up. "There is a very good chance he will succeed after all."

"You mean make the baby a good baby? Oh, that's nice. Why the running?"

"You need to send some Slayers to America. Riley's people will need help soon, when they go to extract Angel and Xander from another dimension—yes, plots within plots."

Dawn regarded him blankly. "How soon?"

"As soon as they get the signal from Spike that it's time. Apparently it depends on how long Angel and Xander take. But Spike wants them in place immediately."

"Lauren's strike team is still in America; just a short flight away. So, spill."

"Spike… has been thinking longer range than I thought he could."

"Which means?"

"He's been putting magic into play for some good and not so good reasons, but he's been keeping Willow as busy as possible elsewhere--to keep her magic away from the baby, because she's got too much darkness. He's been trying to influence the magic the child carries—trying to infuse her with something less dark than what Willow carries."

"And?"

Giles frowned. "Well, he's also been carefully eliminating players from the other side, using Angel as a high-powered hit man."

"And?"

"Er, I think he plans some sort of mystical rite to harness the powers of the Slayer and imbue special powers in the child."

"And?"

Giles sighed. "He's on an island in the Bermuda triangle."

Dawn grinned. "Was that so hard?"

"He may be right," said Giles. "From everything he said on that tape we're damned if we do, damned if we don't. If we try to use force, we are only going to cause the end of the world."

"I don't plan to use force; I plan to fly out there right now."

"You can't. He's in the Bermuda triangle!"

Dawn blinked, trying to see her way around that obstacle. "Oh."

"He's essentially gone someplace that only powerful magic can reach, and has given us compelling reason not to use Willow to get there. Strategically, a master stroke."

"Hm."

"We've exposed Xander and Faith to magic over the years that has been…"

"We already knew that."

"But Spike has set into motion plans to make us use better magic on them. For example, he has in fact begun the end of the world. And he told me where to find a very nice, light, er, in his words, 'fluffy' spell to make it better. Because if Willow casts it, it may help even the balance on the baby."

"So he has a constructive plan. That's good. So how could I get to him? Will the transportation network we stole work for that?"

"Maybe, but we would have to have been there once before. What do you think?"

Dawn spread her hands wide. "I still want to unravel this whole thing a little better. I want to understand it. I want Spike to trust us. But above all else, I want to save the world. If Spike is truly working towards that? Then we back him up."

* * *

Nina watched Connor and Harmony spar outside in the rain, and for a minute she forgot how miserable she was. They were both incredibly fluid and graceful, and they moved with a speed and assurance she couldn't believe.

And the beast within her kept growling and coming up, warning her that she might have to fight them, assuring her that she could take them.

All the darkness in her was coming to a boiling point, she was sure. The monster within was so close to the surface she was getting worried.

Worried she might strike out at Faith. Or the baby. Worried she might try to kill somebody… or worse, might lose control again, as she had with Angel, and end up sleeping with Spike or Connor.

Currently Spike, Connor and Angel were not in any sort of love triangles, despite the fact that Connor had been in one once before and Spike had been in two with Angel. She wanted to keep it that way.

Dana was behind her, quietly practicing a different sort of fighting. Nina could hear the whistle of the stake passing through empty air, the lightning-quick strikes moving so much faster than a vampire could hope to move.

Spike was talking to Faith somewhere else in the hut. Nina couldn't make out his words, but the tone was low and soothing. Nina could tell that Illyria was hiding somewhere else, but right now she wasn't sure where.

Right now she didn't care.

Dana stopped what she was doing and moved closer to Nina, sitting down beside her. "You know, Angel will be back," she said.

And she didn't need to say anything else.

* * *

What hurt most was how right Xander was. How he peeled back all of Angel's protests and made them into whining tirades. How he saw to the heart of the matter.

And it was completely true. Angel could see that. Oh, Angel saw it so clearly now…

All his problems amounted to nothing compared to the big mistake he had been so close to making. His failures, his successes, all of them added up to nothing if he left this world the way it was. If he didn't keep trying.

Spike had it all right, after all. That hurt so bad he wanted to cry.

His depression, the way he had been losing his mind, it was all tied to the magic building and swirling around him, dark magic. Magic like the hellmouth.

He understood what that magic was all about. Now, more than ever, he understood. The prophecy they'd found said they would make Xander's daughter Eternity, would give her the power. Angel had the power now. Good guys and bad guys alike had been giving him that power for just this reason.

He was amazed he hadn't realized sooner what was going on. He had been effortlessly killing, ever since Denver. Killing demons that should have taken days. Killing demons that should have been unkillable. Everything he tried to do, he did.

The magic in him was so powerful it was scary. It had driven him so far, and he hadn't even realized it. He had unbelievable powers, and he hadn't even noticed how easily he was killing vampires and demons.

All because of the way it twisted him.

He had to somehow purify and refine this power. He had to take the edge off the darkness, or the child would never survive his bite.

And he had to save the child.

Urlock had been doing this to him; the wizard and the whole Fellowship of Eternity had been refining the magic in him. Every step of the way. Everything he had done, every spell they had done to him, every chemical tranquilizer that Spike had used on him; it all added up to this.

And every person he killed.

"I'm not your puppet!" he howled, killing another person.

And with every person he killed his soul got a little blacker, and the magic in him got a little darker. And everything he knew told him that he had to stop killing, that he had to find another way.

He just couldn't do it.

* * *

It took Buffy's team nearly a day to get to Riley's compound and join his commandos in their bunker. In that time she received perhaps the most vague briefing ever, and had to pass it along to the girls.

She wasn't sure what to tell them. "Okay, here it is, gang," she said into the microphone while they circled the compound, waiting to land and reinforce the government forces. The girls all watched her closely, her hand-picked Slayers, the best of the best, and she hoped she didn't get any of them killed today. "Angel may be out of control, but he's still pivotal to saving the world. If we have to take him down we use cattle prods and tasers."

A hand swung up. "Who else is with him?"

Buffy didn't know. She didn't know who would know. "We don't know; we can use nonlethal measures on everybody except Faith. Hands off Faith! She's pregnant, you know."

A few gave her scathing looks at being reminded, but most of them just nodded. They knew. And although some of them knew how significant the child was, that it could destroy the world, Buffy had been clear before that the kid could also save the world.

Their chopper descended quickly, and as it settled the girls exited. Quickly, in all directions, scattering from the one big target, but coming back together as a unit. Watching them move filled Buffy with pride; they had combined military training with the standard 'lone wolf' training a Slayer needed, producing warriors adept in single combat or group exercises.

They were more than a match for anybody else on this planet.

* * *

The portal was an inactive stone circle, and there was no way to turn it on. Angel stared at it in disgust, and wanted to kill somebody.

Xander was walking around the stone circle. "Somebody will have to be back soon."

Xander was wrong, which irritated Angel and made him want to kill Xander. Xander was the only human left alive, which made Angel want to kill him. Xander was a prat.

Now he was using Spike's insults. He wasn't sure how it was possible for him to sink any lower.

The world around them shuddered suddenly, and a portal flew open in the middle of the stone columns. Angel fell back a step, then saw a familiar figure moving around on the other side.

"What the hell?" gasped Xander, running for the portal. "Angel, come on!"

He dove through while Angel was still processing it. Angel cursed, following him. That impulsive nature was one of the reasons Xander was always in trouble, he was sure.

It was Buffy on the other side, just as his eyes had told him. And she had fifteen Slayers with her, all armed to the teeth. And there was a row of vampire supersoldiers behind them. And Riley stood there too.

The entire room was stuffed full, and Angel wasn't entirely sure what was going on.

Xander edged away from Angel towards the Slayers. "Hey, guys, what's up?" he asked, as casually as he could.

One Slayer eyed him, loosening the weapon at her belt. It was a cattle prod, noted Angel. Xander stopped moving.

"Angel, Xander!" said Buffy happily. "I was afraid something happened to you! Did you find, er, whatever you were looking for? Is that why you signaled us?"

Xander frowned. "Uh, Buffster, we didn't signal you."

"That energy wave came from this world," confirmed one of the vampires. "That was He-Who-Lived-Again."

Xander rolled his eyes. "You could just say his name!"

The entire row of vampires flinched back a step. Buffy shook her head, sighing. "Of all the guys I've…dated, why would he be the one they all mistake for a god?"

Angel stepped closer to Xander, causing a lot of the distance weapons to be leveled at him. He stopped too. "Where's Faith?"

Nobody answered, and he shifted into game face instantly, trying to hold back the rage. "I asked where Faith is!" he yelled, failing abysmally.

Buffy flinched back. "We don't know!" she said, surprised. "Spike is hiding her from us—we think he has a hideout in the Bermuda triangle, and we don't know how to find him—you know, planes get lost there, boats get lost, you can't use a portal to get in unless you've been there before…."

And Angel remembered explaining that to Spike the first time he'd brought him there, to the tiny island. Explaining how nobody could get there unless invited by one of the other invited people, and telling him it was the ultimate hideout, for when everything went wrong.

That had been when they were both evil, of course.

"Get me to a portal gate now; I know what's going on," he growled.

And he didn't really, but he needed to talk to Faith very bad just then.


	29. Sunlight

Title: A child shall lead them

Disclaimer: I own nada

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell Faith, Angel, Xander and Faith try to deal with the biggest challenge of their (un)lives. You should read DH first.

Rating: Teen

Chapter 29: Sunlight

* * *

Faith had just started going into labor when the portal appeared. Spike gazed at the portal in awe, grinning. "It's time," he told Dana and Illyria. "You both know what to do?"

"Protect the child, protect the vampire," replied Illyria automatically. "Save the champion."

Spike nodded. "Are we all cool with everything?"

Dana nodded. "I wish we could do more to save him."

"One will die, one will live," replied Spike. "We knew this was coming. We can only save one. And this moment right here, this is what we were building up to… oh, crap, Buffy! I don't have to tell you that's a problem, do I?"

Dana examined the Slayer who was walking alongside the vampire and Xander. "No, you don't. I notice your vampires and Riley kept all the other Slayers out, though."

"Just failed on the most important point," grumbled Spike. "Okay. Before sunlight hits the island, we'll be done with this. Are you both okay with this? I mean, okay, deep in your souls? In that part that gets angry at the thought of the injustice of all this?"

"We are," said Illyria calmly. "It's not fair or right, but it's necessary. Come, Spike. We must go betray a friend."

* * *

Xander was practically beside himself as they walked up to the mud hut. "How can she be in labor? I mean, it's too soon, isn't it?"

Spike was reassuring, all oily and smooth. "This pregnancy has been progressing faster than normal, yeah, but it's already at least eight months. She's been like a whale for the last two months."

Angel had a suspicious look on his face; he'd dealt with mystical pregnancies before. He knew that Spike was lying, and had done something to speed things up.

Of course, he wasn't aware how much time he'd lost while trapped in the other dimension, either, and Spike wasn't planning to tell him.

Dana and Illyria took up stations by the door. Harmony was inside, closing the shades in anticipation of the rising sun. "Hi, Angel!" she chirped. He just grunted in reply.

He could smell Connor and Nina, but it was Faith's smell that mesmerized him. That deep, rich smell of Slayer, run through with the smell of her baby. That wonderful smell that drove him all the way to distraction.

Then Spike nudged him. Angel almost spun and hit him, but managed to hold it back. "What?" he demanded.

Spike shook his head. "Take this," he said, holding out his hand. Angel extended his hand, and Spike dropped a cross into it.

It burned like nothing Angel had ever felt. It burned like the combined might of sunlight, holy water, and a cross. It burned like the holiest relic on earth. Angel nearly dropped it, letting out a drowned howl and jumping back.

Spike moved closer, grabbing Angel's collar and backing him up against the wall. "Did your little trip into la-la land clear your head enough to understand?" he asked Angel.

Angel nodded. "I know what I have to do, Spike."

"Which is?" prompted the vampire-turned-human-again.

"I have to give her all the magic building up inside of me—I have to change her."

Spike nodded. "Got that all figured out?" he asked tensely. "Now, have you figured out yet the choice in front of you?"

Angel wrapped his hand tightly into a fist, holding the terrible holy power as close as he could, clearing his mind with the pain. "I have." He pushed Spike away with his free hand. "I didn't realize it until it was almost too late—until I'd slaughtered every person I could find. Until I had loaded myself up with so much darkness I thought I'd never come back."

Spike let out a long sigh. "I knew that would come. But Xander's still alive; that speaks well to your state of mind."

"No, it doesn't. You have no idea how powerful I feel right now Spike. I could crush Illyria with one hand; I could take on an army of Slayers right now."

Behind him, Buffy tensed up.

"I know," said Spike mournfully. "That's why I had to get you and Xander away from Faith. That much power… that little control… well, you know."

"I do know," said Angel dimly. "I didn't really understand it… well, not until yesterday."

"Last week," said Spike. "Well, for us. Time's been passing quicker on this side than on your side."

Angel nodded. "I thought as much."

"So, I've studied up on the vampire lore, and I think right now Connor is your heir—the one who gets all that power when you die."

"What-now?" said Buffy, moving closer.

"It's a vampire thing, love," said Spike. "When you kill a vampire like the Master or Angel, somebody with a lot of pent-up power, that power trickles down to their heirs. After the Master died, Darla, Dru, Angel and I were all a little more powerful. He had a lot of heirs. When Darla died, Dru and Angel got a lot more powerful—I guess I must have too. By the time Dru was dead I was a human again, but I still got a dose of that."

"It makes for interesting politics within vampire clans," said Angel. "The more vampires you sire, the less they have to gain from killing you."

Connor moved out of the shadows where he had been standing with Nina. "The easiest way to break that bond is by denying me—in the traditional vampire way." He flipped a knife out and ran it along the outside of his arm, drawing a long string of blood. He offered it to Angel.

Angel was so far gone it took everything he had to reject the blood, to push Connor aside. "Your blood is not mine," he said, trying to ignore the little voice screaming inside of him. "And you are not my son." He hated saying the words, but today he meant them more than he ever had before.

Connor stepped back, bandaging his arm quickly. He knew just how worked up Angel was right now.

And Angel pushed past the others, heading towards the inner room where Faith was in labor. Nobody tried to follow him.

The pain in his hand was so strong now that it was all he could do not to drop the cross. He briefly wondered how Spike had made it this strong. Was it a relic? Had it been dipped in holy water, blessed by a priest? Whatever the reason, it had real power.

The pain was the only thing keeping his head clear of the bloodlust, the only thing keeping him from charging Faith. He realized belatedly how well Spike had known him to have chosen this method of control.

Faith was sitting upright on the bed, between contractions. She looked surprised and pleased to see him, and it made his stomach roil. Didn't she realize—hadn't Spike told her?

Of course not. If Spike had told her, she would have tried to stop him.

"I'm sorry," he told her. "The prophecy—the baby in you—this is just how it has to be."

"Is Xander dead?" she asked in a tiny voice.

Angel shook his head. "The prophecy said that one must die for the daughter to live—one of the protectors. That's him and me. And it says I have to change your daughter."

Faith flinched. "That's what it is, then? You're going to make her a vampire?"

Angel looked down at the raw red flesh of his hand where it was touching the cross. He had no way to explain to her the darkness inside him, the sheer power of it. "Just… just hold still," he said.

She flinched. "What are you doing?" she asked.

He didn't use a knife the way Connor had. He knelt beside her, cutting across his wrist with his fingernails, which were already halfway to being claws. Blood gushed forward, stolen blood he'd drunk from humans. Some of them had been his enemies, but most of them had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He smeared a cross on her forehead with the blood. "Your daughter will have my birthright; my god-daughter, if you will. My heir. I can't turn her into this, into what I am; I can't do any of that. I'm sorry about this, Faith, I really am."

He pressed down with the finger on her forehead, cutting into the skin. She whimpered a little, but didn't say anything as he finished the cut, cutting a cross-shape underneath his own blood.

His blood would mix with her blood, and while it wouldn't make her a vampire, it would pass enough of the curse to her that the baby inside would be forever altered by it. It wasn't the same as drinking his blood, but it was just as much a curse.

He stood up, moving away. "Whatever they tell you, this was the only way, do you understand?"

He headed for the door at a run, passing by Spike. Dana and Illyria still stood at the door, and for a moment he thought he'd have to fight them to get out. But they let him by, and grabbed Buffy as she tried to follow them, and he realized that Spike had understood more than he'd realized.

Connor and Nina stood together on the beach, and the sky was lightening, red streaks across the horizon. Nina looked scared, and she still didn't understand, Angel saw. Connor did. He was holding Nina's shoulder tightly, holding her back from Angel.

Angel fell to his knees, trying not to look at them.

Nina let out a tiny sob. "Angel—what are you doing?"

"I just want to see the sun rise one more time," he said. "That's all."

"What are you doing?" she shrieked. Connor let her go and she ran forward, wrapping her arms around Angel. "Why? Why?"

She tried to pull him away, back to the safety of the house. He stopped her, grabbing her wrist with his unburned hand. "If I go back in that house I'll kill Faith," he told her. "If I see Xander again, I'll kill him. I already came close to killing him a few times. I've lost every bit of control I have… and like an idiot, I've just let it spiral away from me."

"Angel!" she sobbed.

Connor moved closer. "They don't know, inside. Not yet. They'll figure it out soon, but Spike lied to them, told them Xander was going to die, so they're mostly distracted trying to protect him. I think Buffy knows."

Angel was shaking. Even the cross in his hand was barely enough to keep his head clear. He could feel the sunrise coming, the final sunrise he'd see. "We don't do this because it's easy, or fun, or because it'll save the world. We do this for our loved ones, for those people we know would die if we didn't. I'm doing this for you, Nina—for your future, for your present. I'm sorry."

The sun peeked over the horizon, just the edge of it, and warm rays hit him full on. Immediately he felt searing pain all over, but he held himself erect, trying to push Nina away. "I—I was always a bad person, a bad man, and a villain. Don't mourn for me."

The sun burned away the outer layer of skin, and he was on fire now, a pillar of fire. And suddenly he knew how Spike had felt, burning up to save the world, one glorious gesture that was so powerful it might finally make up for everything.

He threw his head back and laughed as the sun burned him away, tearing every bit of him to pieces. The flames raged for a second, and then there was nothing left but a pile of ashes where Angel had knelt. Nina was screaming, and Connor grabbed her into a hug, glancing back at the mud hut where Buffy was screaming too while Dana and Illyria held her.

* * *

"It was a master-stroke," said Lindsey smugly, crossing his arms in satisfaction.

"You nearly ended the world and gave it to the bad guys," said Cordelia crossly.

"All I did was let the bad guys have their way and pump him full of dark magic," said Lindsey innocently. "I knew in the end he'd turn it against them. The one big bowout like that to turn all the dark magic into something a lot purer, so that when the power comes flushing down to the baby it'll get a super-good boost rather than the super-bad boost it would have gotten if he'd turned her, the way they wanted him to think he had to."

"What if he had turned her?" asked Cordelia.

"Well, then you would have had a real problem."

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "God! What about Angel?"

Lindsey shook his head. "Like every soul, that's up to the after-death department now. But he did save the world numerous times, even sacrificing his own life for it… twice. He's a bona fide hero. I think he'll like the afterlife."

"We don't have a Champion now," grumbled Cordelia.

Lindsey chuckled. "Oh, Cordelia." He pointed back at the hut. "Did you really think we were scoping out Harmony to be Angel's Seer? We just asked her if she wanted a job… how thick are you?"

Cordelia's eyes widened. "But… she signed all those papers! She did all those spells!"

"All of them contingent on Angel's continued existence," said Lindsey. "How dumb do you think Spike is? He's known for quite a while that Angel had an expiration date as a Champion, whether because he did the wrong thing and joined the wrong side or because he did the right thing and sacrificed himself. He also knew that Angel _had _to be the vampire who sacrificed himself for the child in order to fulfill the prophecy without the world being destroyed, and that the child needs to be _taught _by a vampire with a soul--after the sacrifice. It's no coincidence that he's kept Harmony close, here. The only question now is who we tap for the Seer position. It's Dana or Illyria, and I'm leaning for Dana, because she already gets some visions. With a double-helping, she should be able to see… well, a lot."

Cordelia glared at him. "So you had this planned out all along?"

He grinned. "Spike blew all my plans to pieces a long time ago. I'm just good at doing this on the fly."

Cordelia sighed. "So, you have a Champion, and a supercharged baby of goodness. Plus Spike."

Lindsey made a face. "Spike is more dangerous than anybody realizes."

"Yeah? He scares me stiff."

"He should scare you more. I shouldn't have tried to jerk him around; it nearly blew everything apart. Once he had a better idea what was really going on he did all the work for me. I mean, usually we keep people in the dark because it's too dangerous to let them know the truth! With him, it's far more dangerous to keep him in the dark."

"Information is dangerous," said Cordelia seriously. "Most people work too hard trying to change what can't be changed."

"Spike's very much like us. He knew that, so he didn't tell anybody that Angel was the one who was going to die. He misdirected them all while trying to show Angel the truth. It was brilliant. He's better than most of us, actually."

"Are you trying to scare me?"

"I'm serious. We need to offer him a position."

"We offer very few living people positions."

"You got one."

"I did. But that was part of a far-reaching plot to bring Jasmine here—which of course was part of giving Angel all that dark magical energy that he passed on to the baby."

"Still, that makes a precedent. We need him on board. He already has our Champion in his pocket. If we don't bring him on board our Champion will be his Champion. If we don't bring him on board we'll be cut out of the loop entirely."

Cordelia sighed. "I hate to feed his delusions of grandeur."

* * *

Five hours later Faith gave birth. The baby was born with a distinctive cross-shaped birthmark on her forehead, a bloodred mark that echoed the scar on her mother's forehead. The baby didn't cry as much as the others had expected, a short howl followed by a blinking silence.

Xander sat there and held his daughter, all too aware that only the sacrifice of his oldest and most hated enemy had given him the opportunity to ever meet his daughter. He cried while he held her.

Despite her protestations, Illyria held the baby and, in spite of herself, she smiled the whole time, cuddling the baby close.

Dana didn't hold the baby, but she did touch its face with wonder.

Harmony held down any bit of bloodlust while she held the baby, cooing and smiling.

Faith lay there, exhausted, happy, sad, and stared up and around at the strange family she'd collected. This group of monsters and felons and wonderful, strange people, people who had let Angel kill himself to save the world. Her best friend, and the only one who had believed in her when she was at her lowest.

The one who had died to save her baby.

Spike stayed outside with Buffy, Nina and Connor, who were all mourning. He mourned too, trying to reconcile the hatred and love he'd felt for Angel. Trying to let go of his grief. Trying to let go of the inappropriate glee.

He wasn't too surprised when Cordelia and Lindsey showed up. "You're both welcome at the funeral," he said coldly. He wasn't particularly impressed with them today. They had known, more than anybody else. And they had both let it happen.

* * *

**Watcher's Diary: July 2.**

_Today the Mother gave birth and the world was turned upside down._

_You like that, Rupes? A nice portentous and presumptuous entry._

_I mean, so far the kid is normal. Nothing exceptional. Doesn't cry much. No super-powers yet. Probably not till puberty. That'll be a fun, fun hormonal time._

_Angel gave his life for the world._

_Sucks, huh?_

_This will be my last journal entry. I've served faithfully as a Watcher to Dana, but I'm afraid I won't be able to continue in that capacity, at her insistence. We're going to be married soon._

_I know. Married, me? The last one you'd ever expect, huh? Well, you don't say no to a Slayer, right?_

_Yeah._

_(she'll say I asked her, but she's just being romantic)_

_…you understand why I mailed this from an anonymous source, right? Don't send Willow looking for us. She'll just get hurt at this point. Yeah, I still don't trust you as far as I can throw you, prophecy solved and all. You're too willing to hurt your own for prophecy, to save the world. I had to throw Angel to the wolves to save Faith; and we're not letting any more of our own get hurt. Not again.  
_

_If you need help, … well, don't call or anything. We'll know before you do._


	30. Epilogue

A Child Will Lead Them

Epilogue

A/N: I thought I was done with this a long while back. After all, the epilogue in the last chapter was, I thought, about as chilling and unreal as you could go. Then this thought hit me… BTW, even if the canonical comic series based on the show didn't go exactly as I had it in my head, it certainly did feature Spike showing up pretending to be evil for some higher purpose. I enjoyed that so very much…

* * *

It was, as deathbeds go, surreal.

Spike had been dying for years, a slow death the doctors couldn't hold off any more. Too much abuse to his body; between the cancer and the gunshot wounds, he just couldn't go on any more.

He wasn't sure how old he was physically, anyway. He worked it out to about sixty-three, adding the years before he was a vampire to the years afterwards.

Still, he looked older.

He lay there, trying to talk with all the strength of before, even as the light was fading in his eyes. "I told you… I told you where I want to be buried, right? Dee?"

Destiny nodded, keeping a firm grip on his hand. "Right next to Dana, right? Don't talk like that now. You'll be fine."

He wheezed a chuckle. He looked so weak with all his hair gone; with every little muscle and wrinkle in his neck standing out so harshly. He had lost a lot of weight in the last month, so he looked like a skeleton. "I see the end coming, kid. I always see… like your father."

Her parents had both been dead for years, but she didn't say anything. She was crying, and she didn't even try to hide it from him; not now.

He coughed. "I told… I told Blue everything you need to know… a long time ago. Blue?"

Illyria's hair looked grayer now, but she was still the strong, fierce warrior she had been. She was mortal now, more or less; her continued link with Faith and Xander's daughter was something stronger than she had shared with Spike or Dana. She leaned close to him, trying tentatively to smile. "We'll fight the good fight with a sea of confusion for our enemies, and nothing but violence for our enemies. We'll obfuscate and conquer; we'll pretend to be evil when we're not, and pretend to be good only when we must."

He grinned carelessly, glancing to the third woman present. "And Harm… oh, you liar, you… stop crying…"

She didn't, but she did try to smile for him. "Yeah, blondie bear?"

"Did I tell you that I never… I never loved you?"

She sighed. "I kind of knew that."

"And you stuck around anyway. I promised… I promised I'd help you, didn't I? And now I can't any more. I'm sorry. Even… Even if I never did love you like you deserved, don't give up love; it took me centuries to get it right, you know. Centuries, and three women..."

"I know," she said, sighing.

"You'll outlast us all," he predicted. "Even the kid."

The kid, who was now nearly twenty-five, didn't say anything. Spike had taught her to face apocalypse's, had held her when her parents died, and had stood by her against every foe they had found to face. He had helped shape the powers she had into a force that had changed the world for good; mostly.

She almost couldn't bear losing him.

Harmony's smile slipped away, and she tried to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "You're stronger than all of us," she whispered. "Even now."

He groaned, closing his eyes. "I lived a long time, you know, and I did a lot of evil; some good, but mostly evil. I'm not afraid to die; I've done that before. But what comes next? I am afraid, Harm. I am."

Illyria bowed her head lower, laying it on his chest. "You taught me about love and life; and all the things you humans do. You taught me to cherish it, to protect it; whatever awaits you on the other side, they must know what kind of man you have been."

He tried to laugh, but didn't have the strength left any more.

Destiny looked away, at the glass door where the doctors stood. They had taken him here, to the Slayers, at the last hour. Here, where he could receive the finest medical care. Here, where Buffy had died.

Destiny didn't pretend to understand how he could have loved Dana so fully and yet still care for Buffy; but she knew that Dana had never been jealous. Still, it seemed so odd to stare out and see other Slayers, the ones she had fought in the past when necessary, the ones she had protected whenever possible, staring back with awe at Spike, even though he was dying. Staring at the man they occasionally called enemy, sometimes called ally, never trusted, always feared. Staring at the man who had saved them all so many times.

The world could not be the same without him.

"Promise me one thing," whispered Spike. "Whatever comes, don't ever lose hope, Dee."

It took him hours after that to die, fading away slowly. They could have kept him alive longer with machines, but he had already lost so much dignity and control; and although Dee had wanted to force him to take all the life the doctors could force into his failing body, Illyria would not hear of contradicting his orders.

He died shortly after midnight, his heart stopping. He was asleep when he died, and Dee cried for hours, held in the arms of a vampire with a soul and the former God-King of the universe.

* * *

It was a blinding light that shook Spike awake, and he knew instantly he was dead. He had died before, a few times; three, to be precise, which he rarely was.

He groaned, stretching his arms. "Right, let's get this judgment thing over with, shall we?"

The light resolved into a tall, dark vampire he had last seen so many years before. "Oh, is that way, little Willy?" asked Angel, grinning at him.

Spike rolled his eyes. "Bugger all, I should have known you'd be my spirit guide into the beyond. Come to destroy me? Usher me to hell?"

"Yes… and no. I'm not really your spirit guide," admitted Angel sheepishly. "I pulled a few strings to get to meet you here when you died. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to die, Spike! Ugh! You would live to a ripe old age!"

Spike shrugged. "Ripe enough, I suppose. What're you waiting for me for?"

"This place… is hell!" snarled Angel. "Cordy and Lindsey are working together to pull strings and they keep offering me a job. It's enough to make me wish I was Angelus again!"

"Oh?" Spike asked carelessly, glancing about now in confusion. "So, what're you doing now?"

"Nothing. I mostly float around aimlessly, a restless spirit…" Angel stopped talking and stared into space for a second. "Huh. Cordy figured out I've got you here awful fast; sounds like she's bringing the cavalry."

"Well, yeah. What do you want, Liam?"

He shook his head. "Darla's here, working for the side of good. Redeemed, thanks to yours truly. Buffy is here. Faith is here. Even Xander is here, somewhere. They made it. The good people."

"And?" prompted Spike.

"Drusilla went to Hell, Spike," said Angel bluntly. "And you sent her there."

Spike sighed. "Yeah, I know."

"I have a plan," said Angel grandly, drawing himself up to his full height.

Spike shook his head. "Ugh! You never learn!"

"What?" said Angel, surprised.

"Your plan is to storm the gates of hell, demand her back, and do battle, right?" asked Spike.

"Yeah, pretty much," admitted Angel.

"Same plan you used against Wolfram and Hart, the Circle of the Thorn, the Fellowship of Eternity… etcetera, etcetera?" asked Spike, now truly peeved.

"Uh, yeah," said Angel. "As I recall, you were in with me on at least one of those."

"Yeah, one! And, in case you missed it, we both bought it, Angel! That's why you're here. You never… ever… learn!"

Then Spike did something truly surprising. He grinned. It was a lean predatory grin, something that should have only belonged on somebody who didn't make it to heaven. "Oh, the things I've learned, Angel. You want to save Drusilla? Redeem her?"

"She only went to hell in the first place because of me," replied Angel. "My mistakes. My … sins."

"Well, then. I have a plan," said Spike. It was one of his revelations, his finest moments. A moment when everything he had worked for came together in one moment, when he turned the tables on his foes.

"You have a plan," said Angel, deadpan. "Is yours better than mine?"

Spike scoffed. "Better? Worlds! I mean, for starters I've already got pieces in place for this, people I've been massaging into… you knew that, didn't you?"

Angel laughed. "I'm sorry, Will! You know how hard it is…"

"You've been watching me all this time, and using me as your chess piece! Cocky son of a b—"

"Well, I was stuck up here and couldn't do anything. You mad at me?"

Spike grinned, tilting his head just barely to one side. "You know, I've never been so proud of you, Peaches. So, are we off to play hero now?"

Angel nodded, waving both hands outward. A sword appeared in each, and he threw one to Spike. "When the good guys get here, just try not to hurt them too badly."

The world around them shimmered, and Spike let out a shaky laugh. "I should have known death would be just an excuse for even more responsibility thrust onto me!"

"Yeah, Cordy calls that your God complex," said Angel, still keeping a straight face.

"And what does she call yours?"

"Just a martyr complex, but then again, she didn't realize I was planning this."

* * *

Later, in the aftermath, Lindsey and Cordelia found their minions shaken, but not dead, waiting for them in the place where Spike had come through from the other side.

"I wish you would stop underestimating Spike," grumbled Lindsey.

"Firstly, I didn't. I had a whole army waiting to usher him to his eternal rest," said Cordelia, trying to keep her anger out of her voice but failing miserably. "I didn't count on him getting pulled out here by Angel."

"Right. Well, what now?"

Cordelia sighed. "We pretend that whatever they're doing is part of our plan…"

"Why?"

"Because we can't stop them, contain them, or even slow them down, apparently. We might as well try to take credit for them!"


End file.
